Aloe vera as a coating material for tropical fruits using spray method

Abstract

Aloe vera is one of the coating materials that has begun to be widely studied. The application of spray method in fruit coating requires the formulation of a solution to generate droplets that are small, smooth and can forms a film. The purpose of this research was to study the characteristics of the film and droplet produced by various concentrations of aloe vera solution applied by spray method. Observation variables for selection of the best concentration included droplet diameter, film thickness, and Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR). Solution with 10% aloe vera resulted in droplet diameter of 0.26 mm, while at a concentration of 20% yielded a droplet diameter of 0.37 mm. The thickness of the film produced from both-concentrations were 0.9 mm. The WVTR value was not significantly different, i.e 3.02 g/m2-day and 3.03 g/m2-day for the concentration 10% and 20%, respectivaly. The application of 10% aloe vera coating using spray method on rambutan of Lebak varieties decreased respiration rate from 15.08 ml O2/kg-hour to 5.77 ml O2/kg-hour at 10° C storage temperature. Based on these result, the selected formula of coating using spray method was 10% aloe vera solution.