Phytohormones in postharvest storage of fruit and vegetables: mechanisms and applications

Abstract

As a ubiquitous and essential part of phytophysiology, phytohormones have attracted tremendous attention for effective regulation of development and senescence of agricultural products. However, the postharvest mechanisms of phytohormones have not been thoroughly understood. This review provides an overview of common phytohormones for extending the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. The modulation principles are discussed in detail based on defence gene expression activation, sensitivity of senescence-related phytohormones inhibition, antioxidant enzymes activity stimulation, and cell membrane integrity maintenance. The applications of jasmonates, salicylic acids, cytokinins, gibberellins, polyamines, and brassinosteroids in preserving fruit and vegetables based on defence signaling network stimulation, senescence-related phytohormones expression or sensitivity repression, as well as antioxidant system enhancement and cell membrane integrity sustentation are introduced. The challenges and problems to be solved are discussed, and new trends of expanding lifespan by combining phytohormones with other treatments are also suggested. Although phytohormones have been demonstrated to have promising efforts in maintaining agricultural products, more novel and effective combination treatments should be developed to complement each other.

Keywords:

• Fruit and vegetables
• phytohormones
• postharvest storage
• preservation

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Key R&D Program of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (2018BCF01001)/for its support. This research was also supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFD0400404), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (D2190450), the Contemporary International Collaborative Research Centre of Guangdong Province on Food Innovative Processing and Intelligent Control (2019A050519001) and the Common Technical Innovation Team of Guangdong Province on Preservation and Logistics of Agricultural Products (2020KJ145).