Abstract
Studies were carried out to observe the effect of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) treatment (source of nitric oxide) on chilling injury, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and pectin methyl esterase (PME) activities during low temperature storage of Japanese plums cv. ‘Santa Rosa’. All SNP treatments significantly alleviated CI symptoms during entire period of cold storage. Among different treatments, fruits treated with SNP (0.5 mM) showed 71 % lower incidence of CI than control. Minimum electrolyte leakage (49 %), PAL (53.6μmoles of cinnamic acid produced min−1 g−1FW) and PME activity (0.36 μmol min−1 g−1FW) were observed in 0.5 mM SNP treated plums and the maximum in control. The maximum retention of ascorbic acid (25.6 mg/100 g pulp) and antioxidant capacity (14.7 μmol Trolox g−1) was also exhibited by 0.5 mM SNP treated plums. Lowest MDA content (8.17 nmol g−1 FW) and anthocyanin content (592.7 mg/kg FW) were also found in the fruits treated with 0.5 mM SNP. Thus, it can be concluded that SNP is an easy method for application of nitric oxide to maintain fruit quality and extending shelf life by inhibiting fruit softening through interfering with PAL and PME activities during cold storage of ‘Santa Rosa’ plums.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- CI:
-
Chilling Injury
- EL:
-
Electrolyte Leakage
- PAL:
-
Phenyl alanine lyase
- PME:
-
Pectinmethyl esterase
- MDA:
-
Malondialdehyde
- NO:
-
Nitric oxide
- SNP:
-
Sodium nitroprusside
References
Apak R, Guclu K, Ozyurek M, Karademir SE (2004) Novel total antioxidants capacity index for dietary polyphenol and vitamins C and E using their cupric ion reducing capability in the presence of neocuprine: CUPRAC method. J Agric Food Chem 52:7970–7981
Asghari M, Aghdam MS (2010) Impact of salicylic acid on post-harvest physiology of horticultural crops. Trends Food Sci Technol 21:502–509
Flores F, Sanchez-Bel P, Valdenegro M, Romojaro F, Martinez-Madrid M, Egea M (2008) Effects of a pretreatment with nitric oxide on peach (Prunus persica L.) storage at room temperature. Eur Food Res Technol 227:1599–1611
Hagerman AE, Austin PJ (1986) Continuous spectrophotometry assay for plant pectin methyl esterase. J Agric Food Chem 34:440–444
Jhalegar M, Sharma RR, Pal RK, Arora A, Dahuja A (2011) Analysis of physiological and biochemical changes in kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa cv. Allison) after the postharvest treatment with 1-methylcyclopropene. J Plant Biochem Biotechnol 20(2):205–210
Khan NU, Vaidyanathan CS (1986) A new simple spectrophotometric assay of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase. Current Sci 55:391–393
Leshem YY, Wills RBH, Ku VVV (1998) Evidence for the function of the free radical gas nitric oxide (NO) as an endogenous maturation and senescence regulating factor in higher plants. Plant Physiol Biochem 36:825–833
Luo Z, Chen C, Xie J (2011) Effect of salicylic acid treatment on alleviating postharvest chilling injury of ‘Qingnai’ plum fruit. Postharvest Biol Technol 62:115–120
Manjunatha G, Lokesh V, Neelwarne B (2010) Nitric oxide in fruit ripening: trends and opportunities. Biotechnol Adv 28:489–499
Nguyen TBT, Ketsa S, Doorn WGV (2004) Effect of modified atmosphere packaging on chilling-induced peel browning in banana. Postharvest Biol Technol 31:313–317
Panse VG, Sukhatme PV (1984) Statistical methods for agricultural workers, 3rd edn. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
Sharma S, Sharma RR, Pal RK, Jhalegar Md J, Singh J, Srivastav M, Dhiman MR (2012a) Ethylene absorbents influence fruit firmness and activity of enzymes involved in fruit softening of Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindell) cv. Santa Rosa Fruits 67:257–266
Sharma S, Sharma RR, Pal RK, Paul V, Dahuja A (2012b) 1-Methylcyclopropene influences biochemical attributes and fruit softening enzymes of ‘Santa Rosa’ Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.). J Plant Biochem Biotechnol 21:295–299
Sharma S, Sharma RR, Pal RK, Singh SK (2012c) Influence of 1-MCP on compression injury of Japanese plums during transportation. Indian J Hort 69:101–106
Singh SP, Singh Z, Swinny EE (2009) Post harvest nitric oxide fumigation delays fruit ripening and alleviates chilling injury during cold storage of Japanese plums (Prunus salicina Lindell). Postharvest Biol Technol 53:101–108
Wendehenne D, Durner J, Klessig DF (2001) Nitric oxide: a new player in plant signaling and defense responses. Curr Opin Plant Biol 7:449–455
Wills RBH, Ku VVV, Leshem YY (2000) Fumigation with nitric oxide to extend the postharvest life of strawberries. Postharvest Biol Technol 18:75–79
Wrolstad RE, Durst RW, Lee J (2005) Tracking color and pigment changes in anthocyanin products. Trends Food Sci Technol 16:42
Zaharah SS, Singh Z (2011) Postharvest nitric oxide fumigation alleviates chilling injury, delays fruit ripening and maintains quality in cold stored ‘Kensington Pride’ mango. Postharvest Biol Technol l60:202–210
Zhang DD, Cheng GP, Li J, Yi C, Yang E, Qu HX, Jiang YM, Duan XW (2008) Effect of nitric oxide on disorder development and quality maintenance of plum fruit stored at low temperature. Acta Hortic 804:549–554
Zhou Z, Jiang W, Cao J, Zhou Y, Gu Y (2006) Effect of cold-shock treatment on chilling injury in mango (Mangifera indica L. cv Isquo Wachengrsquo) fruit. J Sci Food Agric 86:2458–2462
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sharma, S., Sharma, R.R. Nitric oxide inhibits activities of PAL and PME enzymes and reduces chilling injury in ‘Santa Rosa’ Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindell). J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 24, 292–297 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13562-014-0271-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13562-014-0271-9