4. Conclusions
Treatments with 2% chitosan, 1% CaCl2and combination of 2%
chitosan and 1% CaCl2significantly reduced weight loss, improved
firmness, delayed colour changes, and inhibited microbial growth
on fresh-cut honeydew melon during storage as compared to
control group. The best delay in quality deterioration was found in
the combined chitosan and calcium chloride treatment, with the
shelf-life of fresh-cut honeydew successfully extended. The role of
chitosan coating and calcium treatments in delaying the degradation of pectin molecules and maintaining the integrity of cell wall structure was elucidated in detail via nanostructural analysis of SSP chains by AFM, from morphological qualitative analysis to quantitative analysis on SSP length and width.