The Use Of Dragon Fruit Peel Extract (Hylocereus polyrhizus) As A Smart Packaging Element Indicators For Avocado Fruit (Persea americana Mill) Freshness Yuliana (a), Andi Dirpan (b), Muspirah Djalal (b)
Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanuddin University
Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan KM. 10, Tamalanrea Indah, Tamalanrea, Makassar City, South Sulawesi, 90245
Abstract
Post-harvest Avocado (Persea americana Mill) may lead to short shelf life due to several quality issues such as damage during ripening and storage. As a result of damage, necessary preventive measures need to be taken using the right packaging technology. The new packaging technology namely smart packaging is able to show consumers to choose fresh fruit based on ripeness of avocados without having to open the outer packaging. One of the smart packaging technologies is the use of indicators, especially for freshness indicators. The aim of this research was to create a smart packging elements as an indicator of the freshness based on the pH of the solution and soaking time. The output was to create a smart indicator label color-change profile when applied to avocado. This research was conducted in September 2020-March 2021. This research was conducted in two stages. The first stage wa a preliminary study of extracting the dragon fruit peel to obtain a solution that will be used as a natural indicator containing anthocyanins with the pH of the solution and the duration of soaking the indicator label. The second stage was the main research on the application of smart packaging indicator labels to avocados and followed by chemical and organoleptic testing. The results obtained is the dragon fruit peel extract was pH 7 with soaking time of 5 hours. The indicator label that has been applied to the packaging showed the color change from purplish red to pink which indicated the fruit has change its maturity to ripeness. Moreover the color change from pink to yellow gradation with black spots indicating damaged fruit. The conclusion obtained from this research was that the avocado freshness indicator can be made by using dragon fruit peel extract as a natural indicator solution with Whatman paper No.1 as an indicator solution absorbent. The best pH indicator was pH 7 by soaking for 5 hours. There is a color change on the indicator label during storage.
Keywords: Avocado, dragon fruit peel extract, smart packaging indicators
