Effect of 1‐methylcyclopropene (1‐MCP) on ripening and volatile compounds of blueberry fruit

Abstract

Blueberry fruit (Vaccinium spp. Berkeley) are popular with people due to the functional components, but they are perishable. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) with and without ethylene on ripening and volatile compounds of blueberry fruit. Sensory quality, physicochemical indexes, functional component, antioxidant activity, and principal component analysis of volatile compounds of fruit were detected. The present results indicated that application of ethylene accelerated ethylene production and respiration rate, decreased antioxidant activity and functional components contents of blueberries in comparison with the untreated samples. The degradation effect of ethylene was effectively neutralized by 1-MCP. Treatment of 1-MCP with or without ethylene enhanced firmness, functional components contents, antioxidant activity, and inhibited ethylene production, respiration rate comparing with the control. Furthermore, simultaneous use of ethylene and 1-MCP treatment guaranteed better quality and volatile compounds in blueberry fruit during the whole storage. Practical applications The volatile aroma compounds of blueberries play an important role in enhancing taste. Nevertheless, the use of 1-MCP may reduce the production of aromatic substances, although it can delay the ripening of fruit. Furthermore, consumer difference tests indicated that people can differentiate the 1-MCP-treated apples from the control group. So the commercial application of 1-MCP on fruit is restricted and unfeasible. But a large number of studies on other fruit have shown that combined treatment of 1-MCP and ethylene probably solves this problem. Thus, we tried to apply this method to blueberry fruit, with the purpose of preserving the aroma component while extending shelf life of blueberries.