Short term ozone-enriched atmosphere impacted quality-related attributes during postharvest storage of basil

Preserving fresh herbs is challenging since they are foremost perishable commodities with limited storage life. Ozone, as an alternative postharvest sanitizer, was tested for its effects on fresh basil storage up to 24 hours. In experiment I, gaseous ozone enrichment (0, 0.2, 1, 4, 8, and 16 μmol/mol) was applied once to basil bundles for 2 hours at 12 °C and 95% relative humidity, with samples taken either immediately, or after 22 hours of storage at 12 °C. In experiment II, basil was exposed to the same ozone concentrations in two intervals of 5 hours each. In experiment I, low ozone levels (0.2–1 μmol/mol) benefited total phenolics, flavonoids, antioxidant capacity, reduced weight losses, colour and chlorophyll levels whereas higher ozone levels resulted in browning, increased lipid peroxidation, and hydrogen peroxide production. The application of ozone at intervals caused less severe browning and helped preserve fresh basil quality attributes at low ozone levels. Therefore, 2 hours of low ozone levels can stimulate basil metabolites during storage. Even though the present study was the first research on ozone applications in basil, the results are encouraging and require fine-tuning to optimize the conditions of ozone application while avoiding oxidative stress.