Study on Preparation of Compound Natural Preservative and Its Effect on Preservation of Sauropus androgynus(L.) Merr.

The study aimed to screen out the compound natural preservative suitable for Sauropus androgynus(L.) Merr.. In this experiment, the Hainan Sauropus androgynus(L.) Merr. was as experiment material, and three natural preservatives were investigated by L9(3⁴) orthogonal test based on single factor experiment. The effects of chitosan, tea tree oil nanoemulsion and tea saponin solution on chlorophyll content, V_C content, sensory quality and weight loss rate of Sauropus androgynus(L.) Merr. during storage were investigated. Then the distilled water treatment group was used as the control, the preservation effect was compared between the natural preservative and the traditional chemical preservative(chlorine dioxide). The results showed that the optimal compound preservative formula was tea saponin 2 mg/mL, tea tree oil nanoemulsion 4 mg/mL and chitosan solution 15 mg/mL. With this formula, the contents of chlorophyll and V_C lost less, and the weight loss rate was low, and the sensory quality of Sauropus androgynus(L.) Merr. could be maintained well after 6 days storage. The comprehensive score of preservation effect was 86.05. The preservation effects of the compound natural preservative and the chemical preservative were better than that of the control group, and the preservation effect of compound natural preservative was slightly better than that of traditional chemical preservative, especially in maintaining chlorophyll content and reducing weight loss. The compound natural preservative selected in this experiment has a good effect on the preservation of Sauropus androgynus(L.) Merr.. And it has great application prospect as the green preservative of Sauropus androgynus(L.) Merr..