Abstract
Treatment of avocado callus originating from avocado mesocarp (MC-2) or pericarp (PC-1) with compounds mimicking cytokinin activity enhanced the level of epicatechin. Increasing thidiazuron (TDZ) in the medium (0.9 μM to 1.8 pM) tripled the epicatechin level of the mesocarp in cytokinin-dependent (MC-2) callus. TDZ also induced the level of epicatechin in the cytokinin-independent clone mesocarp (MC-1), but the overall level of epicatechin in this tissue was 12-fold lower than in the cytokinin-dependent callus. Preharvest spray of avocado cv. Fuerte fruits with TDZ (10 μM) or benzylaminopurine (BAP) (40 μM) increased activities of flavanone-3-hydroxylase (F3H) and dihydroflavanone reductase (DFR) at 2 weeks as well as levels of epicatechin and resistance to Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Preharvest treatments of fruits of avocado cv. Ettinger with benzyl adenine delayed fruit softening and decay by 20%. It is suggested that compounds with cytokinin-like activity stimulate the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway in avocado tissue. This can lead to enhanced fruit resistance as shown by the delay in decay development due to C. gloeosporioides.
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