Maintenance of postharvest storability and overall quality of ‘Jinshayou’ pummelo fruit by salicylic acid treatment

INTRODUCTION: The loss of postharvest storability of pummelo fruit reduces its commodity value for long run. To maintain its storability, the effects of postharvest dipping treatment by salicylic acid (SA) with different concentrations (0, 0.1, 0.2, or 0.3%) were investigated on pummelo fruit (Citrus maxima Merr. cv. Jinshayou) during the room temperature storage at 20 ± 2°C for 90 d. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Among all treatments, pre-storage SA treatment at 0.3% demonstrated the most significant ability to reduce fruit decay incidence, decrease weight loss, delay peel color-turned process, and inhibit the declines in total soluble solids (TSS) as well as titratable acid (TA) content. The increases in electrolyte leakage, hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of the 0.3% SA-treated pummelo fruit were reduced compared to the control (dipped in distilled water). Pummelo fruit treated with 0.3% SA exhibited the most outstanding ability to excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, as evidenced by promoted the increases in glutathione (GSH), total phenolics and flavonoids contents, delayed the AsA decline, and enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes and their encoding genes expression. CONCLUSION: Pre-storage treatment dipped with SA, particularly at 0.3%, can be used as a useful and safe preservation method to maintain higher postharvest storability and better overall quality of ‘Jinshayou’ pummelo fruit, and thus delaying postharvest senescence and extend the storage life up to 90 d at room temperature.