3.2.5. Free Radical Scavenging Activity

Antioxidant activity of mangoes has been attributed to a number of compounds, i.e., organic acids, chlorophyl, phenolic compounds etc. The role of coatings in maintaining antioxidant activity during storage is shown in Figure 4a. Uncoated samples exhibited maximum reduction in antioxidant activity (84.89% to 80.66%) during the storage of 21 days. The loss of antioxidant activity was reduced with an increase in beeswax concentration, with minimum reduction observed in S4. Reduction in free radical scavenging activity was more pronounced at the end of the first week for all samples. These results are in correspondence with Ebrahimi et al. [8], who applied guar gum–*Aloe vera* coatings containing *Spirulina platensis* on mango fruits.

**Figure 4.** Effect of time and beeswax concentration on DPPH activity (**a**), total phenolic contents (**b**), and decay incidence (**c**) of mango fruits stored for 21 days at 18 ◦C and 75 ± 5% R.H.
