Carica papaya: Potential Implications in Human Health

Fruit quality retention and shelf-life extension of papaya through organic coating

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a climacteric fruit which lose quality and shelf life quickly due to physiological decay and microbial infection after harvest. The study was conducted to evaluate newly applied clybio formulation (0.2 %) along with the existing effective concentration of chitosan (1 %), aloevera gel (50 %), seaweed extract (1 %) and uncoated papaya (control) fruits on post-harvest physicochemical properties and disease incidence when stored at 25 ± 1 °C and 85-90 % relative humidity. Quality parameters were available up to 12 days of storage (DAS) for chitosan and clybio treated papaya where it was 9 DAS for aloevera gel and seaweed treated papaya and 6 DAS for control papaya. Before decay of all the coated papaya at 9 DAS, chitosan (1 %) performed superior in retaining maximum reducing sugar (0.77 %, 1.41 % and 3.85 % more than aloevera, seaweed and clybio application, respectively), β-carotene (10.94 %, 12.5 % and 9.89 % greater than aloevera, seaweed and clybio coatings, respectively), total flavonoids content (18.36 %, 29.81 % and 25.29 % better than aloevera, seaweed and clybio treatments, respectively), total antioxidant activity (21.85 %, 68.2 % and 47.91 % than noted in aloevera, seaweed and clybio formulations, respectively) and potassium content (3.14 % and 9.32 % than aloevera and clybio treatments, respectively). In addition, clybio gave better results over chitosan up to completion of shelf life (12 DAS) such as retention of ascorbic acid (6.21 %), non-reducing sugar (13.48 %), magnesium content (8.31 %) and disease incidence (20 %). Thus, besides preserving nutraceutical property, chitosan and clybio coated papaya remained edible for further 6 days compared to control, and 3 days over aloevera gel and seaweed extract treatment. These findings suggest the use of chitosan and clybio formulation for preserving quality parameters and extending the storage life of papaya.

Effect of Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of Carotenoids from Papaya (Carica papaya L. cv. Sweet Mary) Using Vegetable Oils

By-products from fruits and are of great interest for their potential use in the food industry due to their high content of bioactive compounds. Herein, we examined the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of carotenoid and carotenoid esters from papaya pulp and peel using soybean oil and sunflower oil as alternative green solvents. Response surface methodology (RSM) was established to optimize the UAE process. Three independent variables, ultrasonic amplitude (20–60%), time (10–60 min), and co-solvent percentage (ethanol) (5–20%, v/v), were applied. The highest total carotenoid content in the UAE extracts was obtained from papaya pulp extracts (58.7 ± 1.6 and 56.0 ± 1.5 μg carotenoids/g oil) using soybean oil and sunflower oil, respectively (60% amplitude/ 10 min/ 20% ethanol). On the other hand, the highest carotenoid content (52.0 ± 0.9 μg carotenoids/g oil) was obtained from papaya peel using soybean oil applying the UAE process (20% amplitude/ 77 min/ 20% ethanol); a minor content of 39.3 ± 0.5 μg carotenoids/g oil was obtained from papaya peel using sunflower oil at 60% amplitude/ 60 min/ 5% ethanol. Lycopene was the most abundant carotenoid among all individual carotenoids observed in papaya oil extracts, obtaining the highest yields of this carotenoid when papaya pulp and peel were extracted using soybean oil (94% and 81%, respectively) and sunflower oil (95% and 82%, respectively). Great extraction of xanthophyll esters was detected using 20% of ethanol in the vegetable oil extraction solvent (v/v). High correlations (>0.85) was obtained between total carotenoid content and color determination in the UAE oil extracts. UAE vegetable oil extracts enriched with carotenoids from papaya by-products could be useful to formulate new food ingredients based on emulsions with interesting potential health benefits.