Effects of Tea Water Extracts on Quality Maintenance of Strawberry

This study evaluated the efficiency of different concentrations of tea polyphenols in preserving the quality of fresh fruits of strawberry cultivar ‘Anna' stored under refrigerated temperature. After being soaked for 5 min in water or Xinyang Maojian tea infusions adjusted to different tea polyphenols concentrations: 20, 30, 40 or 50 mg/L, as prepared by extraction in a boiling water bath, the strawberry fruits were packaged with low density polyethylene cling film and stored at 4 ℃ in a refrigerator. Several relevant quality and physiological indexes were determined at regular intervals during storage. The results showed that tea infusion with 30 mg/L polyphenols effectively inhibited rotting and weight loss of strawberry fruits, significantly prolonged their shelf life, obviously prevented the decrease in vitamin C(VC) content, effectively slowed down the decreases in the activities of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase. However, no obvious effects on the changes in the contents of titratable acids and total soluble solids were observed. These results imply that tea aqueous extracts with certain concentrations of polyphenols can help maintain the activities of antioxidant enzymes and preserve the quality of strawberry fruits.