Efficacy of Opuntia ficus indica mucilage coating on cell wall integrity and shelf-life of banana (Musa spp.) fruit stored at retail condition

Bananas are highly perishable fruits, with rapid ripening leading to fruit softening. This often results in significant postharvest losses due to compromised fruit quality. The objective of this study was to maintain cell wall integrity and delay softening of banana fruits during postharvest storage. Fresh mucilage from the cladodes of Opuntia ficus indica was harvested, dried into a powder, and used to prepare coating formulations of 1, 2, and 3% with glycerol of 0.1% as a plasticizer, which were then applied to the fruit. Both coated and uncoated fruits were stored at controlled conditions of 23±2°C and 85±1% relative humidity. Over the course of the experiment, fruit weight loss, pulp firmness, ethylene and CO2 production, electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA), and the cell wall enzyme polygalacturonase (PG) were measured at two-day intervals. The data collected were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) via GenStat software. The results showed that OFIM-treated fruit had reduced firmness loss, fruit weight loss, ethylene and CO2 production, EL, MDA, and PG enzyme activity. These findings suggest that OFIM edible coating was able to maintain fruit quality and cell wall integrity, inhibiting fruit softening and improving banana shelf life. This may be due to the abundant amount of calcium naturally contained in mucilage, which is known to regulate cell wall integrity and retain fruit firmness.