Improvement of postharvest quality, secondary metabolites, antioxidant activity and quality attributes of Prunus persica L. subjected to solar drying and slice thickness

Hossam S El-Beltagi; Ayesha Khan; Syed Tanveer Shah; Abdul Basit; Muhammad Sajid; Muhammad Hanif; Heba I Mohamed

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103866

Improvement of postharvest quality, secondary metabolites, antioxidant activity and quality attributes of Prunus persica L. subjected to solar drying and slice thickness

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2023 Dec;30(12):103866. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103866. Epub 2023 Nov 3.

Authors

Hossam S El-Beltagi¹, Ayesha Khan², Syed Tanveer Shah³, Abdul Basit⁴, Muhammad Sajid², Muhammad Hanif⁵, Heba I Mohamed⁶

Affiliations

¹ Agricultural Biotechnology Department, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Horticulture, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
³ Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Biological and Health Sciences, Hazara University, Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Horticultural Science, Kyungpook National University, 41566 Daegu, South Korea.
⁵ Department of Agricultural Mechanization and Renewable Energy Technologies, The University of Agriculture Peshawar-Pakistan, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Biological and Geological Sciences, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams, University, Cairo 11341, Egypt.

Abstract

Peach is a fruit highly appreciated by consumers; however, it is highly perishable, so drying is an alternative to preserve its physical and chemical properties. In this study, the effect of different drying methods (oven, solar, and open sun) and slice thicknesses (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 cm) on quality, shelf life, color, total phenol, flavonoid, reducing sugar, non reducing sugar, ascorbic acid contents and antioxidant capacity of peach (Prunus persica L. Cv. Indian blood red), were evaluated. The results showed that, 0.5 cm slice thickness recorded the best results with minimum moisture content (%), drying time (7 hrs), titratable acidity (%), reducing sugars (%), non-reducing sugars (%), total soluble solids (°Brix), disease incidence (%), drying rate, TSS-Acid ratio, ascorbic acid, color and flavor, and total phenolic contents. Storage conditions showed significant results on 90 days of storage with maximum total soluble solids (°Brix), TSS-Acid ratio, reducing sugars (%), minimum titratable acidity (%), ascorbic acid, disease incidence (%), and non-reducing sugars (%), while color and flavor also retained. Peach fruits sliced at 0.5 cm thickness and dried in a solar collector may be considered best to retain the bio chemical attributes for 90 days and solar collector considered as environmentally friendly technology.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Ascorbic acid; Drying methods; Flavonoids; Phenolic; Prunus persica.