Lipids in Peel of Grapefruit and Resistance to Chilling Injury During Cold Storage

Abstract

Abstract Four-year-old ‘Marsh’ grapefruit (Citrus paradisi Macf.) trees on trifoliate orange [Poncirus trifoliate (L.) Raf.] were subjected to temperature regimes of 25° to 5°C over 11 weeks in controlled environment facilities. Levels of total fatty acids in the flavedo of tree fruit decreased over this period by ≈50%, regardless of temperature. After 5 weeks, the level of linoleic acid in the flavedo of grapefruit that had been kept at progressively cooler temperatures from 25° to 5° was 76% greater than the level in control fruit at 25°. On rewarming and cooling, the differential for linoleic acid in flavedo was 41%. Increases of linoleic acid in the flavedo of fruit on trees that were treated with lower temperatures occurred in six lipids, with the greatest increases in phosphatidyl choline and wax-sterol esters. Chilling injury in harvested fruit during cold storage occurred slightly earlier in fruit from trees exposed to low temperatures, but was most severe in nonacclimated fruit.