Effect of Edible Coating Prepared from Aloe Vera Incorporated with Lemongrass Extract on the Antioxidant Properties of the Nile Tilapia Fish Fillets Under Refrigerated Storage

The current investigation was set out to create an edible coat prepared from Aloe vera incorporated with ethanolic lemongrass extract (LGE) for improved lipid oxidative and antioxidant properties of refrigerated tilapia fish fillet LGE was characterized by measuring its total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total phenolic content (TP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) minimum inhibition concentration of 50% (IC₅₀), total flavonoids content (TF), and ferric reducing power. LGE recorded 108380 mgAAE/kg for TAC, 76000 mgGAE/kg for TP, and 39705 mgQE/kg for TF. The IC₅₀ of LGE was calculated as 0.044 mg/ml. As the base coat, Aloe vera gel was employed and two distinct coats were produced using LGE viz. 1000ppm and 2000ppm. The addition of LGE increased the antioxidant properties (TAC, DPPH radical scavenging activity, and TP). The highest scores were observed for Aoe vera incorporated with 2000 ppm LGE edible coats for all analyses attributes. The prepared edible coats were applied to Nile tilapia fish fillets. Four groups of fish samples were taken and consisted of (fish fillets only (control (-)), fish fillet and BHT antioxidant (control (+)), T1 (fish fillets and Aloe vera + 1000ppm LGE), and T2 (fish fillets and Aloe vera + 2000ppm LGE). The evaluation of antioxidant properties and TBRAS lipid oxidation of fish samples were investigated in 4-time intervals (1, 3, 6, and 9) days. The addition of T1 and T2 enhanced the fish fillets antioxidant capacity and storage quality. T2 fish fillets showed the significantly lowest mean values for TBARS (0.299mg MDA/kg), compared to other groups during storage. Also, it was detected the outperforming of T2 on control (+) indicating the advantage of using natural antioxidants instead of synthetic BHT preservatives. According to the study, natural, low-cost edible coatings might dramatically minimize fish waste in manufacturing processes.