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Biopolymers have attracted significant interest for food packaging applications because they are sustainable, biodegradable, and derived from natural sources. In addition, the application of nanoparticles (NPs) to biopolymers enhances their mechanical, barrier, antibacterial, and thermal characteristics. Indeed, Hass avocados have a limited shelf life. Herein, to investigate the effect of biopolymer coating on some physical-biochemical properties of avocado fruit under storage at 7 °C, bio-nanocomposites coating based on Arabic gum (AG), chitosan (Ch), and various concentrations of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs; 0, 0.5, 1, 2% wt %/Ch) were prepared to get bio-nanocomposite coating F1, F2, F3, and F4, respectively. The prepared coatings were characterized using FTIR, thermal stability, and oxygen transmission rate. The crystallinity index (CrI) values of Ch, AG, F1, and F4 were 50.5%, 41.3%, 37.2%, and 31.8%, respectively, in addition to the thermal stability increasing with the increase in the content of CuO-NPs in the bio-nanocomposite coating. Also, the results demonstrated that coating F1 preserved the quality of Hass fruit during storage better than the individual applications of Ch and AG. Also, coating enriched with CuO-NPs (F2-F4) had the lowest fruit decay percentage, fruit firmness, weight loss, TSS fruit content, and delayed changes in fruit color and respiration rate significantly compared to F1 and control. Moreover, coating F4 had the lowest polyphenol oxidase and malondialdehyde activities, while it had the highest catalase, peroxidase, and total antioxidant activities. This study demonstrated the efficiency of the as-prepared bio-nanocomposites in preserving the quality of Hass avocado fruit during cold storage by slowing down the ripening process and triggering enzymatic defense mechanisms.
El‐Aziz et al. (Thu,) studied this question.