Volatile profile of postharvest hardy kiwifruits treated with chitosan-silica nanocomposite coatings

Chitosan (CTS) is a natural polysaccharide derived from the deacetylation of chitin. Chitosan-based coatings are widely used for the preservation of hardy kiwifruits. However, the effect of chitosan-based coating on fruit flavor during ripening is rarely reported. In this study, the postharvest qualities of hardy kiwifruits were investigated using chitosan coating and chitosan-silica nanoparticle coating (CTS-SiNPs) during storage at 25°C and 4°C. Physicochemical analyses showed that chitosan coating extended the shelf-life by delaying ripening and maintaining higher quality than uncoated fruits, and CTS-SiNPs treatment showed a superior preservation effect compared to CTS treatment. Untargeted metabolomics analysis based on HS-SPME-GC-MS was used to comprehensively evaluate the volatile profiles of hardy kiwifruits during postharvest storage. The metabolomics analysis showed that two chitosan coating treatments greatly delayed the accumulation of most volatiles while delaying the ripening process, and the differential volatiles were mostly involved in the terpenoids biosynthesis pathway. Notably, most green leaf volatiles (C₆/C₉ aldehydes, esters and alcohols) and methyl salicylate were up-regulated in the CTS-SiNPs coating groups. In addition, odor activity value (OAV) was used to characterize the key aroma-active compounds and odor profiles. A total of 32 compounds were identified as key aroma-active compounds (OAV ≥ 1) in hardy kiwifruits. The odor profile evaluation showed that the CTS-SiNPs coating treatment enhanced the intensity of the "herbal" odor, while reducing the intensity of "sweet" and "floral" odors in hardy kiwifruits at the eating-ripe stage.