Effects of Thymus vulgaris Essential Oil on Decay Resistance and Quality of Iranian Table Grape

Because of greater consumer awareness and concern regarding synthetic chemical additives, foods preserved with natural additives have become popular. Medicinal plants have been used by human being since ages in traditional medicine due to their therapeutic potential and the search on medicinal plants have led the discovery of novel drug candidates used against diverse diseases. Therefore Thymus vulgaris essential oil was applied in 'Bidaneh Qermez' grape cultivar at six concentrations (0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 μl/l) in water. Quality characteristics (pH, decay, vitamin C, reducing sugars, weight loss, berry abscission, dehydration of rachis, berry cracking and sensory analyses) were evaluated. The results showed that treated fruits with essential oil had lower decay percentage, dehydration of rachis, berry abscission, berry cracking and higher pH, reducing sugars and storage quality compared to control. As a general result, essential oil treatment caused lower decay incident and longer storability.