Enhance Fruit Ripening Uniformity and Accelerate the Rutab Stage by Using ATP in 'Zaghloul' Dates during the Shelf Life.

A A Lo’Ay,Rania E Elgammal,Haifa A S Alhaithloul,Suliman M Alghanem,Mohamed A Abdein,Mohammad Fikry,Dalia M Hikal

doi:10.3390/foods10112641

Abstract

The Rutab date involves a physiological process by which the fruit turns completely ripe. The objective of this study was to research the effect of ATP-treated fruit to improve their biologically active compounds of the Rutab process of the ‘Zagloul’ date during shelf-life. Fruits at full color (red) were dipped in 0, 1, 1.5 mmol L−1 ATP solution for 10 min, and then stored at room temperature (27 ± 1 °C) with a relative humidity of (67 ± 4 RH%) for 12 d. We found that ATP treatment, especially at 1.5 mM, enhances the Rutab stage of date fruit, and certain biologically active compounds such as total phenols and flavonoids, in all ATP treatments compared to untreated fruits. ATP enhanced the loss of tannin compounds in fruit but had no impact on the change in fruit moisture percentage of fruit during storage. The treatments did affect the changes in total sugar content and activated the sucrose enzymes, i.e., acid invertase (AI), neutral invertase (NI), sucrose synthase-cleavage (SS-c), and sucrose synthase-synthesis (SS-s) during storage. Interestingly, immersion in 1.5 mM ATP forced the date fruit to reach the Rutab stage during storage. These results indicated that the dose of ATP (1.5 mM) is a new potential tool that pushes the fruits to regular ripening after harvest, thus reducing the losses in the fruits during the production process. A linear model could be satisfactorily used for predicting the properties of the treated date with ATP 1.5 mM at different shelf-life durations.

Highlights

The date palm is the most productive and important subsistence crop in the hottest and driest desert regions [1]
The FR-Index was lower in ATP-treated and control ‘Zaghloul’ fruit (Figure 1)
Rutab process was detected in thefruit treated in all treatments, but the maximum fruit Rutab process was detected in the treated

Summary

Introduction

The date palm is the most productive and important subsistence crop in the hottest and driest desert regions [1]. CV ‘Zaghloul’) is a favorite Arab food from the Middle East [2,3]. Dates are typically harvested and marketed at three stages of maturity: mature firm (completely red), fully ripe (Rutab), and dry (Tamer). Harvest at one stage relative to another is determined by the characteristics of the cultivars, in particular soluble tannin levels, as well as environmental conditions and market demand [3,6]. The consumption of fruits and vegetables is widely considered important and healthy. A high concentration of dietary compounds known as polyphenols is responsible for the antioxidant and antimutagenic

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Conclusion