Nano-fiber enabled regulated release of hexanal vapor and its impact on shelf life of mango fruits

Fruits are highly perishable causing a huge post-harvest loss of more than 35% and the nano-packaging is one of the promising technologies to address the global challenge. In this study, a naturally occurring volatile compound “hexanal” was loaded into the nano-fiber developed using a biodegradable polymer PVA (poly vinyl alcohol). It is hypothesized that hexanal is known to extend shelf-life of perishables and the nano-fiber enabled regulated release of hexanal vapor slows down the physiology of ripening of fruits thereby getting preserved. Nanofibers were developed using optimal parameters such as PVA solution concentration (7%), voltage (25 kV), flow rate (0.1 mL/h) and tip to collector distance (10 cm). The diameters of the nanofibers before and after loading the hexanal were in the range of 110 ± 20 nm and 340 ± 100 nm, respectively. GC–MS studies revealed that hexanal release from the actively loaded matrices was slower than passively loaded ones. Nano-matrix loaded with hexanal assisted in extending shelf-life mango fruits up to 18 days while control fruits decayed within 7 days under ambient storage conditions.