Postharvest Salicylic Acid Treatment Influences Some Quality Attributes in Air-Stored Pomegranate Fruit

Abstract

Popularity of pomegranate fruit has increased in recent years because of its health benefit content, economic value and medicinal characteristics. Since pomegranate fruit is perishable species, prolonging storage life, keeping fruit quality during storage and marketing period with minimum quality and quantity loss after harvest are essential. Influence of salicylic acid treatments on some quality properties in ‘Hicaznar’ cultivar fruit were investigated in the current study. After harvest at commercial maturity, fruit were exposed to salicylic acid (SA) treatments. Controls (C1) were untreated. The other groups were dipped into a solution containing 0.01% Tween 20 (C2), 0.01% Tween 20+2 mM SA (SA1), and 0.01% Tween 20+4 mM SA (SA2). Then fruit were stored at 5±1 °C temperature, 85-90% relative humidity for 120 days. Changes in fruit skin and aril color, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, weight loss and chilling injury rate total phenolic content, antioxidant activity were followed at 60 days intervals. Neither SA1 nor SA2 affected total phenolic content and antioxidant activity levels of fruit. But, both treatments helped to maintain C* values in arils and skin, titratable acidity and soluble solids content. Since SA2 treatment significantly reduced chilling injury symptoms during cold storage
period of 120 days, it could be considered as promising postharvest technology. 

Keywords

• Punica granatum L.
• Chilling injury
• Antioxidant
• Phenolics

References

1. Arendse E, Fawole O A & Opara U L (2014). Effects of postharvest storage conditions on phytochemical and radical-scavenging activity of pomegranate fruit (cv. Wonderful). Scientia Horticulturae 169: 125-129
2. Artes F, Tudela J A & Gil M I (1998). Improving the keeping quality of pomegranate fruit by intermittent warming. Zeitschrift für Lebensmitteluntersuchung und Forschung 207: 316-321
3. Asghari M & Aghdam M S (2010). Impact of salicylic acid on postharvest physiology of horticultural crops. Trends in Food Science and Technology 2: 502-509
4. Aviram M., Dornfeld L, Rosenblat M, Volkova N, Kaplan M, Coleman R, Hayek T., Presser D & Fuhrman B (2000). Pomegranate juice consumption reduces oxidative stress, atherogenic modifications to LDL, and platelet aggregation: studies in humans and in atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E-deficient mice. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 71(5): 1062-1076
5. Babalar M, Pirzad F, Sarcheshmeh M A A, Talaei A & Lessani H (2018).Arginine treatment attenuates chilling injury of pomegranate fruit during cold storage by enhancing antioxidant system activity. Postharvest Biology and Technology 137: 31-37
6. Benvenuti S, Pellati F, Melegarı M & Bertelli D 2004. Polyphenols, anthocyanins, ascorbic acid, and radical scavenging activity of Rubus, Ribes, and Aronia. Journal of Food Science 69: 164-169
7. Candir E, Ozdemir A E & Aksoy M C (2018). Effects of chitosan coating and modified atmosphere packaging on postharvest quality and bioactive compounds of pomegranate fruit cv. ‘Hicaznar’. Scientia Horticulturae 235: 235-243
8. Chan Z L & Tian S (2006). Induction of H2O2-metabolizing enzymes and total protein synthesis by antagonistic yeast and salicylic acid in harvested sweet cherry fruit Postharvest Biology and Technology 39: 314-320

9. Defilippi B G, Whitaker B D, Hess-Pierce B M & Kader A A (2006). Development and control of scald on wonderful pomegranates during long-term storage. Postharvest Biology and Technology 41: 234-243
10. Dokhanieh A Y, Aghdam M S, Sarcheshmeh M A A (2016). Impact of postharvest hot salicylic acid treatment on aril browning and nutritional quality in fresh-cut pomegranate. Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology 57(4): 378-384
11. Elyatem S M & Kader A A (1984). Postharvest physiology and storage behaviour of pomegranate fruits. Scientia Horticulturae 24(3-4): 287-298.
12. Kader A A, Chordas A & Elyatem S M (1984). Responses of pomegranates to ethylene treatment and storage temperature. California Agriculture 38(7): 4-15
13. Kader A A (2006). Postharvest biology and technology of pomegranates. In: Seeram N P, Schulman R N & Heber D (Eds.), Pomegranates: Ancient Roots to Modern Medicine. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 211-220
14. Koyuncu M A, Erbas D, Onursal C E, Secmen T, Guneyli A & Uzumcu S S (2019). Postharvest treatments of salicylic acid, oxalic acid and putrescine influences bioactive compounds and quality of pomegranate during controlled atmosphere storage. Journal of Food Science and Technology 56(1): 350-359
15. Köksal A İ (1989). Research on the storage of pomegranate (cv. Gök Bahçe) under different conditions. Acta Horticulturae 258, 299-302
16. McGuire R G (1992). Reporting of objective color measurements. HortScience 27: 1254-1255.
17. Mirdehghan S H, Rahemi M, Martínez-Romero D, Guillén F, Valverde J M, Zapata P J, Serrano M & Valero D (2007). Reduction of pomegranate chilling injury during storage after heat treatment: role of polyamines. Postharvest Biology and Technology 44(1): 19-25
18. Moradinezad F & Khayyat M (2014). Effects of ıntermittent warming and prestorage treatments (hot water, salicylic acid, calcium chloride) on postharvest life of pomegranate fruit cv. ‘Shishe-kab’ during long-term cold storage. International Journal of Horticultural Science and Technology 1(1): 43-51.
19. Olugbami J O,Gbadegesin M A & Odunola O A (2015). In vitro free radical scavenging and antioxidant properties of ethanol extract of Terminalia glaucescens. Pharmacognosy Research 7(1): 49-56
20. Raskin I (1992). The role of salicylic acid in plants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 43: 439-463
21. Sanchez-Moreno C, Larrauri J A & Saura-Calixto F (1999). Free radical scavenging capacity of selected red, rose and white wines. The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 79: 1301-1304
22. Sayyari M, Babalar M, Kalantari S, Serrano M & Valero M (2009): Effect of salicylic acid treatment on reducing chilling injury in stored pomegranates. Postharvest Biology and Technology 53: 152-154
23. Sayyari M, Valero D, Babalar M, Kalantari S, Zapata P J & Serrano M (2010). Prestorage oxalic acid treatment maintained visual quality, bioactive compounds, and antioxidant potential of pomegranate after long-term storage at 2 °C. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 58: 6804-6808
24. Sayyari M, Babalar M, Kalantari S, Martínez-Romero D, Guillén F, Serrano M & Valero D (2011). Vapour treatments with methyl salicylate or methyl jasmonate alleviated chilling injury and enhanced antioxidant potential during postharvest storage of pomegranates. Food Chemistry 124: 964-970.
25. Sayyari M, Valero D & Serrano M (2017). Pre-storage salicylic acid treatment affects functional properties, unsaturated/saturated fatty acids ratio and chilling resistance of pomegranate during cold storage. International Food Research Journal 24(2): 637-642.
26. Selcuk N & Erkan M (2015). Changes in phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of sour-sweet pomegranates cv. ‘Hicaznar’ during long-term storage under modified atmosphere packaging. Postharvest Biology and Technology 109: 30-39
27. Shaarawi S A M A, Salem A S E, Elmaghraby I M K & Abd El-Moniem Eman A A (2016). Effect of salicylic acid, calcium chloride and calcium lactate applications on quality attributes of minimally-processed ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate arils. Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca 44(2): 508-517
28. Spanos G A & Wrolstad R E (1990). Influence of processing, and storage on the phenolic composition of Thompson seedless grape juice. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 38: 1565-1571
29. Srivastava M K & Dwivedi U N (2000). Delayed ripening of banana fruit by salicylic acid. Plant Science 158: 87-96
30. Vatanparast G, Mirdehghan S H, Karimi H R & Vazifeshenas M H (2012). Foliar application of salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate and potassium sulfate on photosynthetic characteristics and fruit quality of pomegranate. Iran Agricultural Research 32(2): 23-34
31. Wang L, Chen S, Kong W, Li S & Archbold D D (2006). Salicylic acid pretreatment alleviates chilling injury and affects the antioxidant system and heat shock proteins of peaches during cold storage. Postharvest Biology and Technology 41: 244-251
32. Wang D, Özen C, Abu-Reidah I M, Chigurupati S, Patra J K, Horbanczuk J O, Józwik A, Tzvetkov N T, Uhrin P & Atanasov A G (2018). Vasculoprotective effects of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.). Frontiers in Pharmacology 9: 544 doi: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00544Zhang Y, Chen K, Zhang S & Ferguson I (2003).The role of salicylic acid in postharvest ripening of kiwifruit. Postharvest Biology and Technology 28: 67-74.