similar observations and concluded that
coatings and/or films significantly affected
firmness of fruits in storage. The softening
process in orange was reported to be dependent
on the increase in polygalacturonase, ßgalactosidase
and pectinmethylesterase
activities (Batisse et al., 1996; Rem´on et al.,
2003), being responsible for fruit quality loss.
In addition, CS and CMC probably had some
effects on the reduction of cell wall degradingenzymes
responsible for cucumber softening.
These results show beneficial effects of the CS
and CMC coatings on increasing the cucumber
shelf life, since it has been postulated that fruit
softening and texture changes during orange
storage determine fruit storage ability and shelf
life, as well as reduce incidence of decay and
lessened susceptibility to mechanical damage