The role of mucilage of Opuntia ficus-indica Mill. on sweet cherry fruit during storage

Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is an important crop from temperate areas and is widespread and much appreciated by the consumers when the pedicel is green. The objective of this work was to evaluate the quality of sweet cherry fruit treated with a mucilage coating, extracted from cladodes of Opuntia ficus-indica L. Mill (OFI). The cultivar ‘Ferrovia’ was harvested at the commercial ripeness stage from an orchard in Puglia (Italy), stored for 14 days at 2°C and RH 92% and to evaluated by the variation of color and other qualitative parameters such as physical-chemical, nutraceutical and sensory analysis. Fruits were transferred at 10°C to postharvest laboratory of University of Palermo after 15 h and immediately treated with mucilage coating (MCC) or distilled water (CTR). Our results showed that sweet cherry fruit treated with MCC had better values of the parameter L* than the control and reduced weight loss (%) during the storage. Moreover, acceptability of fruit remained “good” for up to 10 days after harvest for MCC fruit and up to 7 days for CTR. Opuntia ficus-indica Mill. mucilage was improved fruit quality and reduced pedicel browning in sweet cherry.