Food Packaging and Shelf Life 12 (2017) 135–141

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Food Packaging and Shelf Life

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fpsl

The effectiveness of Opuntia ficus-indica mucilage edible coating on post- MARK

harvest maintenance of ‘Dottato’ fig (Ficus carica L.) fruit
⁎
A. Allegraa, , G. Sortinoa, P. Inglesea, L. Settannia, A. Todaroa, A. Gallottab
a
Department of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences – Università degli Studi di Palermo - Viale delle Scienze, ed.4, ingresso H - 90128 Palermo, Italy
b
Department Sciences of Soil, Plants and Food (Di.S.S.P.A.) Università degli Studi ‘Aldo Moro’ di Bari, via Amendola, 165/A - 70126 Bari, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Breba figs are highly perishable and their shelf-life is very short. In this study, breba figs (cv. ‘Dottato’) were
Cactus pear treated with a mucilage solution of Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes, sealed in plastic bags, and stored at 4 °C for 14
Edible film days. The effect of the edible coating on the shelf-life and qualitative attributes of the fruit were evaluated by
Phenols colors, content of total soluble solids, titratable acidity, total phenol, total carotenoids. Results showed that
Quality
coating improves the quality of breba fig during storage. The edible coating was effective in maintaining fruit
Hydrocolloids
fresh weight, visual score values, fruit firmness and total carotenoid content. Coated fruit showed a significantly
Color
Respiration rate lower development of Enterobacteriaceae than control ones during the entire period of observation.
Ethylene

1. Introduction
The common fig (Ficus carica L.) is a traditional fruit crop native of
the Mediterranean Basin and cultivated since long time in Southern
Italy. Eating quality and consumers’ acceptance of fresh fig fruits are
best when they are almost fully ripe; skin color and flesh firmness are
the most reliable maturity and quality indices (Caliskan & Polat, 2012,
Crisosto, Bremer, Ferguson, & Crisosto, 2010). However, figs are parti-
cularly sensitive to softening, skin cracking and, thus, severe decay
(Crisosto et al., 2010). The degree of skin damage is related also to the
genotype and overripe fruit become undesirable due to fermentation
products (Kong, Lampinen, Shackel, & Crisosto, 2013). ‘Dottato’ is the
most representative Italian cultivar and its brebas (1st crop) are
harvested between the end of June and the first week of July, while
fruit of the second harvest (‘Forniti’) are harvested in August and
September. Brebas have a higher epidermis perishability and a lower
sugar content than main crop fruits (Kaynak, Gozlekci, & Ersoy, 1998).
Fresh fruits are stored at 0 °C (Piga, D’Aquino, Agabbio, & Papoff, 1995)
or 1–2 °C (Irfan, Vanjakshi, Keshava Prakash, Ravi, & Kudachikar,
2013) with a respiration rate of 0.4 to 8 mg of CO2 kg−1 h−1
(Crisosto & Kader, 2004). The recourse to modified atmosphere en-
riched with CO2 (Alturki, 2013; Colelli, Mitchell, & Kader, 1991) or the
pretreatment with CaCl2 at 4% (Irfan et al., 2013) has been recom-
mended to maintain fruit quality. The use of edible coatings (EC) could
be an alternative to preserve fresh fruit quality and to extend their shelf
life. EC technique may reduce physiological disorders, gas exchange,
moisture and solute migration, respiration and oxidative reaction rates
(Baldwin, Nisperos, Chen, & Hagenmaier, 1996). Edible coatings were
demonstrated to have good effectiveness in order to extend the apple
fruit shelf-life (Rojas-Graü et al., 2007), strawberries (Han, Lederer,
McDaniel, & Zhao, 2005), melon (Raybaudi-Massilia, Mosqueda-
Melgar, & Martín-Belloso, 2008), mango (Chien, Sheu, & Yang, 2007),
grape (Valverde et al., 2005), papaya (González-Aguilar et al., 2009)
and banana (Bico, Raposo, Morais, & Morais, 2008) proving to be
effective in prolonging their shelf life. Some coatings have been tested
for their aptitude of inhibiting microbiological content (Ponce, Roura,
Del Valle, & Moreira, 2008), to prolong fruit shelf life, and to reduce
fruit respiration rate (Li & Yu, 2001). Natural EC based on Aloe vera
extracts, chitosan (Elsabee & Abdou, 2013), methylcellulose and whey
protein have been successfully applied to several fruit
(Olaimat & Holley, 2012). Opuntia (Opuntia ficus-indica) cladodes have
high mucilaginous substances (Sepúlveda, Sáenz, Aliaga, & Aceituno,
2007) with complex polymeric substances of carbohydrate nature,
highly branched structure (Medina-Torres, Brito-De La Fuente,
Torrestiana-Sanchez, & Katthain, 2000) and contain varying propor-
tions of L-arabinose, D-galactose, L-rhamnose and D-xylose. Moreover,
the dried mucilage contains on average 5.6% moisture, 7.3% protein,
37.3% ash, 1.14%, nitrogen, 9.86% calcium and 1.55% potassium
(Sepúlveda et al., 2007). Notwithstanding its hydrophilic character, the
mucilage, can act as a barrier to water transfer, retarding water loss and
prolonging the firmness of flesh fruit (Del Valle, Hernández-Muñoz,
Guarda, & Galotto, 2005) and in fresh-cut kiwi slices (Allegra et al.,

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: alessio.allegra@unipa.it (A. Allegra).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2017.04.010
Received 12 December 2016; Received in revised form 7 April 2017; Accepted 13 April 2017
2214-2894/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Allegra et al.
2016). Treatment with O. ficus-indica (OFI) mucilage applied on fresh
strawberries reduced respiration rate, weight loss, firmness, loss of
color and fungal infection (Del Valle et al., 2005).
Considering the high perishability of breba figs, the objective of this
study was to evaluate the effectiveness of OFI edible coating in reducing
weight loss and maintaining texture and nutraceutical properties of fig
fruit during a 14 d storage period at 4 °C.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Plant materials
Breba fig (F. carica L.) fruits of cv. ‘Dottato’ were harvested in June
2014 from five-years-old own rooted trees grown in a commercial
orchard located at San Cipirello (37°58′00″ N 13°11′00″ E) (Italy). Trees
were spaced 6 m × 5 m apart and average fruit yield was
52 ± 5.0 kg tree−1. During the last 4 weeks of ripening the average
day/night temperatures were 29/20 °C. One hundred fruits were
individually hand collected from 6 trees at commercial harvest maturity
stage. Promptly after harvest, fruit were transported to the post-harvest
laboratory of the University of Palermo and then dipped in sanitized
water for 360 s (100 ppm of free chlorine). Defective fruit (bruised,
other physical damage, incorrect maturity, and odd color) were
discarded, and the remaining 75 figs were then selected by maturity
and firmness on one sample of 10 fruits (22.5 ± 3.5 N). The coating
treatment was made according to previous literature (Allegra et al.,
2016), more particularly figs were first dipped in coating solution made
of O. ficus-indica mucilage for 60 s, this solution consisted of a pure
mucilage extract 30 g + 500 mL distilled water and 50 mL glycerol as a
plasticizer (MC); the exceeding coating was drained and the coated figs
were dried in a forced-air dryer (20 °C) for 5 min. Thirty-six fig fruits
were dipped in distilled water and used as a blank (CTR). Breba fig
treated with MC and CTR were placed in bi-oriented polystyrene (PS)
macroperforated bags (Carton Pack s.r.l., Rutigliano, Italy). After being
coated or dipped, figs were stored in a refrigerator at 4 ± 0.5 °C and
85% RH for 14 days to simulate shelf life conditions in a domestic
refrigerator. For both the coated treatment and the uncoated control
(CTR) and for any storage time, 36 fruits (2fruit × 18bags) were used.
Physicochemical and microbiological quality parameters were analyzed
after coating/dipping (day 0) and at 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 d of storage.
2.2. Preparation of the edible coating
O. ficus-indica Mill. cladodes were cut and cubed (2 cm3). Samples
were homogenized (20%, w/v) in distilled water with water in the ratio
1:1.5. According to Allegra et al. (2016), the solution was maintained at
40 °C for 90 min and centrifuged (model CS-6R CS6R) at
3000 rpm × 20 min. The supernatant obtained was boiled to halve
the initial volume and ethanol at 99% was added in the ratio 1:2 (used
to prepare the edible coating). The solution was then stored at 4 °C for
48 h to get a better aggregation of mucilage (Fig. 7). The last phase
involved the elimination of the supernatant and the soaking of the pure
mucilage (Allegra et al., 2016).
2.3. Microbiological analysis of mucilage and figs
Fig samples and mucilage were microbiologically investigated for
total mesophilic microorganisms (TMM) and the undesired (spoilage
and/or pathogenic) microbial groups according to previous work
(Allegra et al., 2016). This method consist of the following steps: the
fruit (25 g) and the mucilage (10 mL) were suspended in Ringer's
solution (Sigma–Aldrich, Milan, Italy) to a ratio 1:10 (fruit:diluent),
homogenized for 2 min at high speed with a stomacher (BagMixer® 400,
Interscience, Saint Nom, France) and serially diluted. The cell suspen-
sions were inoculated as follows: TMM on plate count agar (PCA),
incubated aerobically at 30 °C for 72 h; Enterobacteriaceae on double-
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Food Packaging and Shelf Life 12 (2017) 135–141
layered violet red bile glucose agar (VRBGA), incubated aerobically at
37 °C for 24 h; pseudomonads on Pseudomonas agar base (PAB)
supplemented with 10 mg/mL cetrimide fucidin, incubated aerobically
at 20 °C for 48 h; yeasts on yeast potato dextrose (YPD) agar, incubated
aerobically at 25 °C for 48 h. All media and supplements were
purchased from Oxoid (Milan, Italy). Count plates were carried out in
duplicate for each trial.
2.4. Firmness
Fruit firmness was measured using a fruit texture analyzer (Instron
5564 USA) adapted with a flat tip. Each fig (six replicates for each
treatments and sampling date) was compressed on the cheek with a 2.5-
cm flat tip at a speed of 5 mm s−1 to a depth of 4 mm and the maximum
value of force was expressed in Newton (N). Average values were
calculated from the results of 6 measurements of each stage.
2.5. Weight loss
Weight loss of fruit was measured after the treatment (day 0) and at
the different sampling dates (3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 d of storage).
2.6. Respiration rate and ethylene production at harvest
Ethylene production and fruit respiration rate were measured
immediately after harvest both at 20 °C and after storage at 4 °C for
72 h. Ten fruit were weighed with a digital scale and placed individu-
ally in 705-mL sealed glass containers, according to Crisosto et al.
(2010). In intact fruit following harvest, ethylene production
(μL kg−1 h−1) was measured in an acclimatized chamber at 20 °C.
According to previous literature, gas samples (1 mL) were taken of
effluent air from respiration jars, using a 1 mL syringe and injected into
a gas chromatograph (GC, Agilent Technologies 6890, Wilmington,
Germany) and fitted with a FID detector and an alumina column F1 80/
100 (2 m × 1/8 × 2.1, Tecknokroma, Barcelona, Spain). The oven
temperature was 140 °C while the injector and detector were kept at
180 and 280 °C, respectively. The respiration rate was determined,
according to Agudelo, Restrepo, and Zapata (2016), with a portable gas
analyzer (PBI Dansensor Checkpoint O2 and CO2 AS, Ringsted, Den-
mark) expressed as mL CO2 kg−1 h−1.
2.7. Color
The color of the skin was measured at the beginning of storage (time
0) and after 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 d at 4 °C on six single fruit replicates for
each treatments and sampling date. A portable colorimeter (Minolta CR
400 HEAD, Minolta, Osaka, Japan), equipped with an 8-mm measuring
head and a C illuminant (6774 K), was used. According to previous
work (Allegra, Barone, Inglese, Todaro, & Sortino, 2015) the instrument
was calibrated using the manufacturer's standard white plate. Color
changes were quantified in L*, a* and b* color space. ΔE was calculated
as ΔE = (L 0* − L*)2 + (a 0* − a*)2 + (b0* − b*)2 considering the differ-
ence between the color measured just after coating (T0) and the color
measured 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 d after storage. Average values were
measured on 6 replicates for each stage.
2.8. Visual appearance score
Fruit sensory qualities (color, visible structural integrity and visual
appearance) at each storage time were evaluated by six trained judges,
using a 5-pt rating scale, according to Colelli et al. (1991), where
5 = very good, 4 = good, 3 = fair (limit of marketability), 2 = poor
(limit of usability) and 1 = very poor (inedible). Six fruits were used as
single replicate for treatment (MC and CTR) and time. Following
previous literature, panelist were asked to give their score according
A. Allegra et al.
to flesh color change and brightness, presence of mold, evidence of
many appearance flaw in the surface area; average values were
calculated from the results of 6 measurements for each stage (Allegra,
Sortino, et al., 2015).
2.9. Sensory analysis
Sensory analysis was performed on fig fruit samples immediately
after cold storage at 4 °C and 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days afterwards. At each
time, samples were kept in a room at 20 °C for 1 h, to be ready for
sensory evaluation. Six panelists not allergic to figs (3 men and 3
women) were recruited from the campus of the Università degli Studi di
Palermo and the surrounding community and their average age was 38
years All panelists participated to 10 days of training and 6 days of
tasting. At each session (treatment) six portions of figs (3 untreated
CTR, and 3 coated with OFI mucilage) were presented to the panelists,
in a randomized and balanced order (Lee, Park, Lee, & Choi, 2003;
Sortino, Barone, Tinella, & Gallotta, 2017). The main sensory descrip-
tors used were flavor, aroma and presence off flavor (Lin & Zhao, 2007).
The left side of the scale corresponded to the absence of the sensation
(value 1.0) and the right side corresponded to the highest intensity
(value 9.0). The judges evaluated the intensity of each descriptor by
assigning categorical scores of 1 (absence of sensation), 2 (just
recognizable), 3 (very weak), 4 (weak), 5 (slight), 6 (moderate), 7
(intense), 8 (very intense) and 9 (extremely intense). The evaluations
were carried out from 10:00 to 12:00 a.m. in individual booths
illuminated by white light. The order of presentation was randomized
for each judge and water was provided for rinsing between fruit
samples.
2.10. Soluble solids, pH and titratable acidity
Soluble solids concentration was determined with a hand-held
refractometer (Atago Palette PR-32, Atago Co., Tokyo Japan) and pH
was determined by a pH-meter (Crison Istrument, Titromatic 8653,
Spain). Titratable acidity (expressed as % citric acid) was determined
by titrating with 0.1 M NaOH to an endpoint of pH 8.10
(Caliskan & Polat, 2012). Average values were calculated from the
results of 6 measurements for each stage.
2.11. Total polyphenols content
Total polyphenol analysis was determined according to the
Singleton and Rossi (1965) method, which was applied also in previous
work (Allegra, Barone, et al., 2015) using the Folin-Ciocalteau reagent
(FC) and the gallic acid as a standard. The FC reagent relies on the
transfer of electrons in alkaline medium from phenolic compounds to
phosphomolybdic/phosphotungstic acid complexes, which are deter-
mined spectrophotometrically at 700 nm. Thirty grams of fig fresh
tissue for each replicate was homogenized with methanol (1:10, w/v).
After filtration through a Whatman grade N. 1 filter paper, methanolic
extracts were concentrated under reduced pressure and the residue was
suspended in 50% (v/v) aqueous methanol and used for phenolic
content assay. Results were expressed as gallic acid equivalent
(mg kg−1 fresh weight). The analyses were accomplished in triplicate
for each sample.
2.12. Total carotenoids
According to Distefano et al. (2009) three aliquots of pulp (ca. 5 g)
obtained from 6 fruits previously ground to a fine powder under liquid
nitrogen were mixed for 20 min with 50 mL of extracting solvent
(hexane/acetone/ethanol, 50:25:25, v/v). The organic phase contain-
ing carotenoids was recovered and then used for analyses after suitable
dilution with hexane. Total carotenoid determination was carried out
on an aliquot of the hexane extract by measuring absorbance at 450 nm
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Food Packaging and Shelf Life 12 (2017) 135–141
with a Beckman DU 640 spectrophotometer. Total carotenoids were
calculated according to the method of Ritter and Purcell (1981) using
an extinction coefficient of β-carotene of ε% = 2505. The analyses
were performed in triplicate for each sample.
2.13. Statistical analysis
The experimental design consisted of one coating treatment and the
untreated control, with observations made at 0, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days
after coating. For both the treatment and the control, six fruits used as
single replicates were analyzed, at each sampling date. Analysis of
variance was applied to data collected (Systat 13.0 for Windows was
used as statistical software). Significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were
measured by Fisher's test.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Ethylene production and chemical and physical characteristics
Ethylene production of fig fruit is usually affected by cultivar or
maturity stage (Crisosto et al., 2010). Values ranging from 4.1 to
5.9 μL kg−1 h−1 we recorded in California on figs of ‘Mission’
(4.1 μL kg−1 h−1), ‘Brown Turkey’ (5.9 μL kg−1 h−1) ‘Kadota’
(4.8 μL kg−1 h−1) and ‘Calimyrna’ (5.9 μL kg−1 h−1), while ethylene
production was lower at the tree ripe stage (4.7 μL kg−1 h−1) than at
the commercial harvest stage (5.7 μL kg−1 h−1). Ethylene production
measured on ‘Dottato’ breba figs immediately after commercial harvest
time at 20 °C, was 5.2 ± 0.5 μL kg−1 h−1, while a value of
0.9 ± 0.3 μL kg−1 h−1 was registered after storage for 72 h at 4 °C.
At those stages, fruit respiration rate was 28.0 ± 2.5 and
6.8 ± 1.8 kg−1 h−1 CO2, respectively.
Total soluble solid content (TSS) and titratable acidity (TA) were
17.5 ± 3.2 (%) and 0.8 ± 1.1 g L−1 at harvest time and remained
stable during the 14 d at 4 °C for MC samples (data not shown). A
similar trend was reported by Alturki (2013) and Irfan et al. (2013) on
fig fruit stored at 4 °C and 1 °C for 14 d, respectively. No significant
differences between the treatment and the control occurred for TSS,
while TA for MC was significantly higher than CTR, after 10 d, because
of a sharp decrease in TA in CTR fruit, due to a faster fruit ripening
(data not shown).
3.2. Visual quality score and color
Del Valle et al. (2005) demonstrated that the OFI coating did not
produce alterations in the typical strawberry lightness. Indeed, breba
fig fruit treated with OFI coating did not show significant changes in
color and scored as very good (Figs. 1 and 2).
MC fruit had the highest visual quality scores until 10 d of storage
and they were still above the marketability threshold, while untreated
fruit were marketable only during the first 5 d of storage. Indeed, visual
quality scores of coated fruit did not significantly change until 7 d after
harvest, while it rapidly decreased in untreated fruit, already 3 days
after storage began (Fig. 1). Visual score was inversely related
(R2 = 0.85) to the extent of color loss measured by the value of ΔE,
that could be, then, used as a quick test for visual score assessment
(Fig. 3). Flesh brightness (L*) was similar in CTR and MC fruit at the
time of treatment. CTR fruit showed a continuous decrease of skin
brightness, with lower values than MC fruit at 3, 5 and 7 d of storage, L*
of MC fruits was stable during 7d of storage then decreased, no
significant differences between MC and CTR fruit occurred during the
last five d of storage, when the brightness of MC fruit sharply declined
(Fig. 2).
3.3. Sensory analysis
Fruit coating reduced the rate of weight loss, thus minimizing the
A. Allegra et al. Food Packaging and Shelf Life 12 (2017) 135–141

Fig. 1. Changes in visual quality score of ‘breba’ fruit, cv. ‘Dottato’ (Ficus carica L.) coated
with edible coating made of O. ficus-indica cladode pure mucilage (MC) and not treated
(CTR), just after being coated (0) and stored for 3, 5, 7, 10, 14 days at 4 °C. (5 = very
good, 4 = good, 3 = fair (limit of marketability), 2 = poor and 1 = very poor (ined-
ible)). Data are means (n = 6) ± SE. Different letters indicate significant differences at
p ≤ 0.05 at each sampling date.
Fig. 3. Correlation between visual score and ΔE of ‘breba’ in fruit, cv. ‘Dottato’ (Ficus
carica L.) coated with edible coating made of O. ficus-indica cladode pure mucilage (MC ♦)
and not treated (CTR ■), just after being coated (0) and stored for 3, 5, 7, 10, 14 days at
4 °C. Data are means (n = 6) ± SE.

Table 1
Sensory analysis during shelf-life of breba fig at 4 °C. Each value represents the means
(n = 6) ± SE. Different letters (p < 0.05) indicate significant differences between CTR
(control) and MC (treatment) values at each storage time; ns = not significant.
Categorical scores are: 1 (absence of sensation), 2 (just recognizable), 3 (very weak), 4
(weak), 5 (slight), 6 (moderate), 7 (intense), 8 (very intense) and 9 (extremely intense).

Storage time (days) Flavor Off flavor Aroma

0 CTR 6.2 ± 0.1ns 1.0 ± 0.0ns 7.3 ± 0.5ns

MC 6.1 ± 0.3ns 1.0 ± 0.0 7.2 ± 0.4

3 CTR 4.8 ± 0.5a 1.0 ± 0.0 7.1 ± 0.2ns

Fig. 2. Change in L* (brightness) color of ‘breba’ fruit, cv. ‘Dottato’ (Ficus carica L.) coated
MC 5.3 ± 0.5b 1.0 ± 0.0 7.3 ± 0.8
with edible coating made of O. ficus-indica cladode pure mucilage (MC) and not treated
(CTR), just after being coated (0) and stored for 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days at 4 °C. Data are 5 CTR 4.1 ± 0.6a 1.0 ± 0.0 5.8 ± 0.4ns
means (n = 6) ± SE. Different letters indicate significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. MC 5.4 ± 0.4a 1.0 ± 0.0 6.0 ± 0.5

10 CTR 2.9 ± 0.3b 1.2 ± 0.0 5.3 ± 0.2b

negative changes on the sensory qualities (Table 1). CTR and MC MC 3.2 ± 0.2a 1.0 ± 0.0 5.7 ± 0.4a
samples showed no significant differences in terms of off-flavor, while 14 CTR 2.0 ± 0.2b 1.2 ± 0.0 5.0 ± 0.3b
MC samples kept a significant higher aroma than CTR ones 10 days MC 3.1 ± 0.3a 1.2 ± 0.0 5.4 ± 0.4a
after storage (Table 1). Moreover, differences in aroma between
samples were significant 3 days after storage and until the end of the
indeed, observed in MC treatment showing the ability of OFI coating to
storage period. At this stage, the aroma of CTR fruit was scored as 30%
maintain the intact structure of breba fruit. This could be attributed to
than at the beginning of storage, while MC score halved.
calcium content in OFI mucilage (Sepúlveda et al., 2007) that maintains
the integrity of the fruit cell wall and middle lamella, by interacting
3.4. Weight loss and changes in firmness with the pectic acid in the cell walls to form calcium pectate (Abbott,
Conway, & Sams, 1989). Treatment with calcium increases calcium
Softening and weight loss increased during storage and reducing the content and maintains firmness in strawberry (García,
shelf life. MC fruit had a dramatically lower percent weight loss than Herrera, & Morilla, 1996), fig (Irfan et al., 2013) and peach
CTR ones (Fig. 4a). Differences between coated and uncoated fruit were (Manganaris, Vasilakakis, Diamantidis, & Mignani, 2007).
significant starting from 10 d of storage, when percent weight loss of
CTR fruit was 3-fold higher than MC fruit (Fig. 4a). Results in this study
indicate the weight loss of breba fig, was strongly influenced by OFI 3.5. Phenolics and carotenoids analysis
coating. OFI coating also reduced transpiration and weight loss in
strawberry (Del Valle et al., 2005). Other results showed that fig treated The content of total phenolic in breba fig is higher in the skin than
with soybean meal extract and modified atmosphere or film packaging in the pulp (Vallejo, Marín, & Tomás-Barberán, 2012) and does not
(Ponce et al., 2008) preserved fresh weight. change significatively during storage at 4 °C (Allegra, Alfeo,
Fruit firmness decreased significantly during storage in both CTR Gallotta, & Todaro, 2017). Fig fruits are peeled before serving; however,
and MC fruit (Fig. 4b). Significant differences between CTR and MC fig fruit skins contain healthful nutrients that should not be discarded.
fruit began to occur, after CTR fruit showed a faster decrease in For this reason we preferred to use skin and together pulp for analysis of
firmness than MC ones (Fig. 4b). The highest firmness values were, polyphenols and carotenoids. Different result showed that edible coat-

138
A. Allegra et al. Food Packaging and Shelf Life 12 (2017) 135–141

Fig. 4. Weight loss (a) and change in firmness (b) of ‘breba’ fruit, cv. ‘Dottato’ (Ficus carica L.) coated with edible coating made of O. ficus-indica cladode pure mucilage (MC) and not
treated (CTR), just after being coated (0) and stored for 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days at 4 °C. Data are means (n = 6) ± SE. Different letters indicate significant differences at p ≤ 0.05.

Fig. 5. Change in total polyphenols pulp (A) and in total carotenoids pulp (B) of ‘breba’ fruit, cv. ‘Dottato’ (Ficus carica L.) coated with edible coating made of O. ficus-indica cladode pure
mucilage (MC) and not treated (CTR), just after being coated (0) and stored for 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days at 4 °C. Data are means (n = 3) ± SE. Different letters indicate significant
differences at p ≤ 0.05.

ing based on 1.5% sodium alginate + 0.7% citric acid + 1.0% sucrose litchi fruit (Zhang & Quantick, 1997). Total polyphenols content was
ester with and without Ficus hirta extract, could increase the value of higher than reported (Vallejo et al., 2012) but comparable with the data
polyphenols content on mandarin fruit (Chen et al., 2016) on the other reported by Solomon et al. (2006) and did not change significantly in
hand edible coating based on chitosan decreased polyphenol content of CTR fruits during storage and between treatments (Fig. 5a). The

Fig. 6. Total mesophilic count (a), change of bacteria (Enterobacteriaceae) (b), change of bacteria Pseudomonas (c) and change of yeast (d) of ‘breba’ fruit, cv. ‘Dottato’ (Ficus carica L.)
coated with edible coating made of O. ficus-indica cladode pure mucilage (MC) and not treated (CTR), just after being coated (0) and stored for 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days at 4 °C. Data are
means (n = 6) ± SE. Different letters indicate significant differences at p ≤ 0.05.

139
A. Allegra et al.
Fig. 7. Extraction of mucilage and change in brightness color in ‘breba’ fig (Ficus carica L.) coated with edible coating mucilage.
evolution pattern of carotenoids in the flesh of MC and CTR fruit
showed significant differences from 3 d to 7 d of storage, when
carotenoid content sharply increased in CTR samples (Fig. 5b). Indeed,
the increase of carotenoid content in CTR samples during the last days
of storage is explicable with an increase in water loss, which resulted in
a higher carotenoid concentration (Fig. 3). In dried figs, total carote-
noid decreased during the first, third, fifth and seventh day of drying, to
92.9%, 40.8%, 23.4% and 21.5% of the initial content (Yemiş,
Bakkalbaşı, & Artık, 2012). Carotenoid pigments are susceptible to
oxidative changes during drying but it is possible that OFI coating
acted as a barrier to preserve the chemical structure of the carotenoids
during storage.
3.6. Microbial analysis
Microbial investigations showed that the application of Opuntia
mucilage, although not able to inhibit the undesired microbial groups,
limited significatively their development in MC fruits. Figs treated with
mucilage were characterized by lower microbial cell densities than the
fruits of control trial from the 6th d of storage (Fig. 6a). The amount of
Enterobacteriaceae, a family that might include potential pathogenic
microorganisms, increased in MC fruit until 7 d, while CTR fruit showed
a continuous increase until the end of storage, with the highest rate
occurring during the first three days of storage (Fig. 6b). MC fruit
showed a significantly lower bacterial concentration than CTR fruit
during the entire period of observation. The concentration of pseudo-
monads (Fig. 6c) and yeasts (Fig. 6d) increased sharply during the first
3 d of storage with a marginal or no increase from then onwards. No
differences regarding Pseudomonas were registered between treatments
at the last stage of storage (Fig. 6).
4. Conclusion
Figs are particularly sensitive to softening, skin cracking and, thus,
to a severe decay and are a good test of the hydrocolloid properties of
the mucilage derived from O. ficus-indica (OFI) cladodes. Results show
the weight loss of breba fig decrease, which was influenced by the OFI
coating. The value of weight loss showed that mucilage derived of
cladodes could have a protective effect on breba fig during storage.
Generally, the coating showed a tendency to extend the breba fig shelf-
140
Food Packaging and Shelf Life 12 (2017) 135–141
life, maintaining brightness, visual appearance score and firmness;
however it did not avoid the microbial decay of figs, but reduced the
development of Enterobacteriaceae. In a general way, the association of
temperature and mucilage was efficient to reduce the water transpira-
tion and maintain mechanical and chemical properties of breba fig
during 10 d of storage.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the
online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2017.04.010.
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