Chitosan coating did not affect the changes in weight during the
first twelve days of storage, but differences between coated and
uncoated berries appeared later. On the contrary, firmness values of
red kiwifruit berries started to decline after the first day of storage.
No significant differences in terms of firmness between coated and
uncoated berries were determined at the end of storage, i.e., after
eighteenth day. Investigations of chemical components corroborated
that coated berries are distinguished by higher amounts of
biologically active substances. It was stated that coated berries contained
24.4% larger amounts of phenolic and 16.6% larger amounts
of ascorbic acid comparing to the uncoated ones after 26 days of
storage. Changes in soluble solid amounts revealed that chitosan
coated samples had slower decomposition rate than uncoated samples.
It was also concluded that chitosan coating can be used to
extend the shelf life of red kiwifruit which could not be commercialized
because of its quite short shelf life.