Effects of Preharvest Abscisic Acid Treatment on the Preservation of Lychee Fruits
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Abstract:
The effects of preharvest application of 100 mg/L abscisic acid (ABA) on the preservation of lychee fruits stored at 20 ℃ were explored. The ‘Jingganghongnuo’ cultivar was selected for this research. Preharvest ABA treatment clearly mitigated increases in browning index, disease index, and fruit decay rate and better maintained the original color (L*, a*, and b*). More specifically, the browning index, disease index, and fruit decay rate of the ABA-treated lychee fruits were 3.38, 1.42, and 37.78%, respectively. After 8 days of storage, the total phenol content in the ABA-treated fruits was 3.54% higher than that in the control group, and the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, polyphenol oxidase, and peroxidase were 1.38%, 3.22%, and 18.39% higher, respectively. In contrast, relative electrical conductivity, malondialdehyde content, and hydrogen peroxide content were 23.25%, 11.85%, and 18.18% lower in ABA-treated fruits than in the control group, respectively. In addition, after 8 days of storage, the ABA-treated fruits had a total soluble solid (TSS) content of 17.70%, a titratable acid (TA) content of 0.12%, and a vitamin C (Vc) content of 30.14 mg/100 g, which were all higher than those in the control group. These results indicate that preharvest ABA treatment can maintain the appearance of harvested lychee fruits by maintaining cell membrane integrity, reducing the oxidation of phenols, and increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes, as well as preserving nutritional quality by inhibiting decreases in TSS, TA, and Vc contents. Therefore, preharvest ABA treatment is recommended as a new technology for effectively maintaining the quality of harvested lychee fruits at ambient temperatures.
