Effects of Chitosan Coating on the Storage Quality and Decay of Post-harvest Plum Fruit

Effects of different concentration of chitosan(0,5,10 or 20 g/L) coating on the fruit firmness,soluble solids content,ascorbic acid,color changing and decay of post-harvest plum(Prunus salicina Lindl cv.Niuxin) fruit during the cold storage at 2 ℃ were studied.The Results showed that treatments with 5,10 or 20 g/L of chitosan on the plum fruit could effectively maintain the storage quality,delay the fruit color changing and decrease decays.Fruit firmness of the fruit treated with 10 g/L was 61.43% higher than that of the control fruit after the storage for 4 weeks.The index of color change and the decay rate of plum fruit treated with chitosan caoting of 20 g/L were 59.8% and 52.9% lower than that the control fruit respectively.Chitosan coating also delayed the increase of soluble solids content and decrease of ascorbic acid.