Maintenance of Postharvest Quality and Reactive Oxygen Species Homeostasis of Pitaya Fruit by Essential Oil p-Anisaldehyde Treatment.

Yanmei Xu,Wei Shan,Jianfei Kuang,Zhijun Cai,Donglan Luo,Yating Zhao,Yonghua Qin,Wangjin Lu,Jianye Chen,Liangjie Ba,Xinguo Su,Liling Li

doi:10.3390/foods10102434

Yanmei Xu, Wei Shan + Show 10 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10102434

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Abstract

The performance of p-Anisaldehyde (PAA) for preserving pitaya fruit quality and the underpinning regulatory mechanism were investigated in this study. Results showed that PAA treatment significantly reduced fruit decay, weight loss and loss of firmness, and maintained higher content of total soluble solids, betacyanins, betaxanthins, total phenolics and flavonoids in postharvest pitaya fruits. Compared with control, the increase in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content and superoxide anion (O2•−) production was inhibited in fruit treated with PAA. Meanwhile, PAA significantly improved the activity of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT). Moreover, PAA-treated pitaya fruit maintained higher ascorbic acid (AsA) and reduced-glutathione (GSH) content but lower dehydroascorbate (DHA) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) content, thus sustaining higher ratio of AsA/DHA and GSH/GSSG. In addition, activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) and dehydrogenation ascorbic acid reductase (DHAR), as well as the expression of HpSOD, HpPOD, HpCAT, HpAPX, HpGR, HpDHAR and HpMDHAR, were enhanced after PAA treatment. The findings suggest that postharvest application of PAA may be a reliable method to control postharvest decay and preserve quality of harvested pitaya fruit by enhancing the antioxidant potential of the AsA-GSH cycle and activating an antioxidant defense system to alleviate reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation.

Highlights

Pitaya fruit (Hylocereus undatus) is a tropical fruit originated from Latin America [1]
Further observations showed that decay, bract degreening, and water loss were more evident in control fruits compared with their counterparts in PAA treatment after 12 d of storage
The finding of the current study demonstrates that PAA treatment efficiently reduced the decay incidence of pitaya fruits (Figure 2A), which was consistent with the previous studies indicating that PAA could enhance resistance against disease development caused by green mold and blue mold of citrus fruits [32]

Summary

Introduction

Pitaya fruit (Hylocereus undatus) is a tropical fruit originated from Latin America [1]. Pitaya is a non-climacteric fruit, it deteriorates and senesces rapidly after harvest due to the susceptibility to fungal diseases, and physiological disorders leading to shrinkage, limiting its storage and marketing potential [4,5]. Several reported treatments, such as cold storage [6], controlled atmosphere [7], plant hormone [8], X-ray irradiation [9] and synthetic chemicals [10], have been proved to control the postharvest diseases and fruit quality deterioration at varying degrees. There is a continuing search for safer, low-cost, potent senescence inhibitors and antimicrobial technology to maintain quality of harvested pitaya fruit

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