Essential oil loaded electrospun membrane - A potential sprout supressant

Quality of the potato tubers during storage could be retained by efficient sprout controlling. Recently it has become important to use natural anti-sprouting agents such as essential oils (EO) as well as pure compounds derived from essential oils. Therefore, in the present work we have attempted to explore the anti-sprouting efficiency of peppermint essential oil (Peppermint EO) loaded Polyurethane (PU)/ Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) ultra-thin fibrous mats during the post harvest storage of potato tubers. PU/PMMA blend fibers were produced by electrospinning technique. The electrospun fiber mats were loaded with 2 wt% peppermint essential oil.  Essential oil loaded and unloaded fibers were characterised for its chemical composition, surface morphology and controlled release of Peppermint EO using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The SEM results revealed the change in fiber diameter before and after loading. In-vitro release of Peppermint EO in ethanol was approximately found to be 84.8%. Storage life of potato tubers in the presence of peppermint oil was assessed. Storage life study concluded that tubers stored with peppermint EO loaded fibers showed no sprout development for 30 days due to controlled release of EO whereas the tubers with unloaded mats sprouted in 10 days. Thus, the fabricated peppermint EO loaded PU/PMMA fibrous membrane having an excellent anti-sprouting property would be a potential candidate for the post harvest storage of potatoes.