Influence of modified atmosphere treatment on post-harvest reactive oxygen metabolism of pomegranate peels

Abstract

Modified atmosphere storage can regulate the reactive oxygen metabolism of fruits and vegetables, reduce the accumulation of hazardous free radicals, and mitigate the peroxidation degree of fruit membrane lipids. In this study, different gas matching ratios were adopted for the modified atmosphere treatment of pomegranate fruits. Up to 120 d of storage, compared with the control treatment, the H₂O₂ and malonaldehyde (MDA) contents in treatment 2 decreased by 8.88% and 18.28%, respectively, when the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbic acid peroxidase (APX) in treatment 2 increased by 21.44%, 117.38% and 114.95%, the ascorbic acid (ASA) and glutathione (GSH) contents in treatment 2 also increased by 116.83% and 50%, these results showed that treatment 2 (6.0% O₂, 6.0% CO₂) could effectively regulate various indexes of the reactive oxygen metabolism of pomegranate peels, maintain the normal physiological actions of the fruits, and postpone the ripening and senescence of histocytes. Under treatment 4 (10.0% O₂, 10.0% CO₂), H₂O₂ contents in the pomegranate peel significantly increased, and the activities of SOD, CAT and APX significantly reduced. ASA and GSH were degraded, the MDA content abruptly increased, the membrane lipid peroxidation accelerated, and the cytomembrane structure was destroyed.

Keywords:

• Modified atmosphere storage
• membrane lipid peroxidation
• reactive oxygen metabolism
• pomegranate peel

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted with support from Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation project of Shaanxi Province, China (Grant No. 2011NXC01-07).