An easy-to-clean nanofiber coating containing zanthoxylum bungeanum essential oil/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex for the preservation of mangoes

This work aimed to investigat the properties of an antioxidant nanofiber coating incorporating zanthoxylum bungeanum essential oil and its function in the preservation of mangoes. Results showed that with the increase of zanthoxylum bungeanum essential oil-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex (ZBEO-β-CD-IC) content in the nanofiber coating, the porosity, water vapor permeability, and oxygen permeability of the coating decreased, but the antioxidant activities increased. During storage, the increase of ZBEO-β-CD-IC content in the coating decreased weight loss and the respiration rate, and delayed the softening of tissue and yellowing of peel color. On the twelfth day, as the ZBEO-β-CD-IC content in the coating increased, the contents of flavonoids, total phenols, and ascorbic acid in mangoes increased from 2.36 × 10−2 to 2.87 × 10−2 g kg−1, 23.76 × 10−2 to 28.06 × 10−2 g kg−1, and 24.20 × 10−2 to 39.38 × 10−2 g kg−1, respectively. Hydrogen peroxide content, superoxide anion rate, and malondialdehyde content decreased from 4.62 to 2.98 mmol kg−1, 0.53 to 0.36 μmol min−1 kg−1, and 8.22 to 6.24 μmol kg−1, respectively. The activities of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase were also inhibited after mangoes were coated in nanofibers containing ZBEO-β-CD-IC.