Production of organic crops follows an increasing trend due to the role they play in human health. Such an increase necessitates a reduction in using chemical substances in the course of post-harvesting stages and have led a progressive increase in the application of natural inhibitors. Considering their anti-microbial and anti-oxidant characteristics, natural essences are thought to be good alternatives in this scope. This research is aimed to evaluate the capabilities of clove essence in reducing the activity of peroxidase enzyme (as one of the important chemical degrading agents) within horseradish. For this purpose, an enzymatic essence containing peroxidase was mixed with a substrate (composed of guaiacol, hydrogen peroxide, sodium phosphate buffer and various concentrations of essence (50, 75, 100 and 200 μg/100ml) before being transferred into a kavat where kinetic absorption of the samples were observed at a wavelength of 470 nm for 400 seconds. Considering variation of this enzyme within different vegetables, the results showed that enzymatic activities of peroxidase were 4625 (gram of vegetable × second / unit activity) with clove essence causing a reduction of such a value by 1135, 1665, 1365 and 1675 percent of activity/gram/second within the horseradish.
