γ-Aminobutyric acid and nitric oxide treatments preserve sensory and nutritional quality of cornelian cherry fruits during postharvest cold storage by delaying softening and enhancing phenols accumulation

Abstract

During postharvest life, cornelian cherry fruits suffer from browning accompanying by sensory and nutritional quality deterioration. Cold storage isn’t along sufficiently effective for delaying browning accompanying by preserving the sensory and nutritional quality of cornelian cherry fruits during postharvest life. In this experiment, the mechanisms employed by γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) at 0, 2.5, 5 and 10 mM and NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) at 0, 250, 500 and 1000 μM on delaying browning accompanying by preserving the sensory and nutritional quality of cornelian cherry fruits during storage at 4 °C for 21 days was investigated. Our result showed that the cornelian cherry fruits treated with 5 mM GABA and 500 μM SNP exhibited higher firmness which may arise from lower cell wall degrading enzymes polygalacturonase (PG) and pectin methylesterase (PME) activity. Also, lower browning in cornelian cherry fruits treated with 5 mM GABA and 500 μM SNP during storage at 4 °C for 21 days may arise from higher phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) enzyme activity along with lower polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzyme activity giving rise to higher phenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins accumulation and superior DPPH scavenging capacity. Accordingly, our results suggest that the postharvest 5 mM GABA and 500 μM SNP treatments may be beneficial strategies for supplying firm cornelian cherry fruits with higher bioactive molecules accumulation which is crucial for consumer health.