Open Access

ARTICLE

Chilling Injury, Physicochemical Properties, and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities of Red Pitahaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) Fruits under Cold Storage Stress

Kai Sheng¹, Saichao Wei¹, Jun Mei^1,2,3,4,*, Jing Xie^1,2,3,4,*

1 College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.
2 National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Food Science and Engineering Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
3 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Aquatic Product Processing and Preservation, Shanghai, 201306, China
4 Shanghai Professional Technology Service Platform on Cold Chain Equipment Performance and Energy Saving Evaluation, Shanghai, 201306, China

* Corresponding Authors: Jun Mei. Email: ; Jing Xie. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 90(1), 291-305. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.012985

Received 20 July 2020; Accepted 09 September 2020; Issue published 20 November 2020

Abstract

Low-temperature storage is extensively used to optimize the postharvest life of various fresh fruits. However, red pitahaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) fruits are sensitive to chilling injury (CI), which leads to the limitation of low-temperature storage. In this study, red pitahaya fruits were stored at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10°C, respectively, for 27 days to determine the appropriate storage temperature. During the storage of red pitahaya fruits, storage at 8°C was more effective in suppressing decay and maintaining quality than other low temperatures. Low-temperature (2, 4, and 6°C) storage decreased weight loss (WL) and maintained higher content of titratable acidity (TA), soluble sugars (SS), and total phenolics (TP) but different degrees of CI were detected. No CI was observed at 8°C and 10°C. Red pitahay as stored at 8 and 10°C were associated with better color evaluation, lower electrolyte leakage (EL), respiration rate, and lipoxygenase (LOX) activity, and higher fruit firmness, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and catalase (CAT) activity. However, higher storage temperature (10°C) resulted in higher metabolic activity leading to lower quality and antioxidant capacities compared with 8°C. Therefore, our results demonstrated that red pitahaya stored at 8°C exhibited a protective effect on fruit quality and resisted CI development during storage.

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