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The scope of this study was to enhance the shelf life of green bell peppers via application of rice starch based edible coating incorporated with onion peel extract (OPE). The physicochemical properties of uncoated (control) and coated bell peppers were evaluated at different intervals during storage at refrigeration temperature (4 ± 0.5°C) for 15 days. The results indicated that rice starch based edible coating considerably decreased the physiological weight loss while maintaining titratable acidity, total soluble solids, and pH of stored bell peppers. The coated bell peppers also had higher total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity when compared with control. The texture analysis after 15 days revealed that the coated samples were firmer (4.77 N) than the control (2.95 N). Also, the treated bell peppers received better sensory scores in terms of freshness, color, taste, and hardness leading to higher overall acceptability (5.2) in comparison to control sample (1.0). Consequently, the findings of this study suggested that preservation of green bell peppers with OPE enriched rice starchbased coating could delay the senescence process leading to their reduced postharvest loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pearl millet starch was chemically modified via succinylation, acetylation, octenyl succinylation, and oxidation. The effects of the aforementioned chemical modifications on the functional properties of pearl millet starch were studied. The yield of the starch was approximately 56.3% on a total grain weight basis. Native starch granules ranged from polygonal to spherical in shape as observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results revealed that succinylation increased the swelling power and solubility significantly (p<0.05). With regard to paste clarity, octenyl succinylated starch (POS) showed the highest value with the least reduction in percentage transmittance (%T) upon cold storage. Acetylation greatly reduced the re-association tendency of native pearl millet as indicated by the absence of retrogradation peak during thermal analysis. Viscoamylographic analysis revealed that the peak viscosity improved significantly (p<0.05) after succinylation. Chemically modified starches exhibited better cold-storage stability in terms of various textural attributes like hardness, chewiness, springiness, and cohesiveness when compared with native starch. The percentage of retrogradation (%R) for POS was 9.87% as compared with 49.11% for unmodified starch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]