Research Projects

This proposal aims to enhance the shelf-life and storage facilities of Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), a highly nutritious and flavorful edible fungus. However, mushrooms have a high respiration rate and lack a barrier to protect them from water loss or microbial attack, leading to a rapid decrease in quality and shorter shelf-life during postharvest storage, transportation, distribution, and marketing. Around 30-35% of harvests are lost annually due to microbial infections during transit, storage, and marketing. Nanoparticles have become a popular postharvest treatment technology due to their antimicrobial properties. Coating nanoparticles provides moisture barriers, preventing gas exchange, and reducing the loss of bioactive compounds. Zinc oxide tetrapod nano structures are a non-toxic, biosafe material that can provide extra strength and controlled release to nanocoating solutions and packaging films. The research methodology involves a combination of natural antimicrobial nanocomposite-based nanoformulations, including zinc oxide nanostructures, aloe vera, essential oils, chitosan, CMC, starch, pectin, and gums. The synthesized nano-coatings and primary packaging material will be scaled-up to pilot-scale, followed by patenting and commercialization as an effective shelf-life enhancing strategy accessible to mushroom farmers and producers.