Medicinal plant essential oils associated with biofilm to protect papaya fruits
Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a tropical species belonging to the Caricaceae family, of great worldwide importance. It is grown mainly in tropical countries. Much appreciated by consumers (Santos et al., 2009). Brazil is o the second largest producer of papaya in the world according to the Brazilian Fruit Farming Yearbook of 2017, considered the third largest world’s producer of fruit (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2018; Editora Gazeta, 2017). Among the states with the highest production, Bahia and Espirito Santo together account for 64.32% of Brazilian production (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, 2017). However, it is known that papaya has a relatively short shelf-life after harvesting, with losses near to 40%, depending on storage conditions. Other factors that occur in preand post-harvest conditions can also reduce or accelerate fruit metabolism, resulting in quantitative and qualitative losses in the different commercialization phases (Zamperlini et al., 2007). Tropical fruits typically have high moisture content, easily damaged soft-textured pulp and high respiratory rates. Those characteristics combined with heat-generating packaging, as well as the lack of auxiliary treatments, such as the use of plant regulators that slow down maturation-related processes may represent the rapid senescence of fruits (Chitarra & Chitarra, 2005; Godoy et al., 2010). According to Brady (1987) and Tucker & Grierson (1987), degradation and synthesis of pigments, conversion of starch to sugars, reduction in the firmness, degradation of pectins and alteration in enzymatic activity, all occur over maturation processes.