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Ecofriendly hot water treatment reduces postharvest decay and elicits defense response in kiwifruit

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Abstract

Hot water treatment (HWT) of fruit is an effective approach for managing postharvest decay of fruits and vegetables. In the present study, the effects of HWT (45 °C for 10 min) on the growth of Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium expansum in vitro, and gray (B. cinerea) and blue mold (P. expansum) development in kiwifruit were investigated. HWT effectively inhibited spore germination and germ tube elongation of B. cinerea and P. expansum. Reactive oxygen species accumulation and protein impairment in the fungi triggered by HWT contributed to the inhibitory effect. Results of in vivo studies showed that HWT controlled gray and blue mold in kiwifruit stored at 4 and 25 °C. HWT induced a significant increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes, including catalase and peroxidase, and the level of total phenolic compounds in kiwifruit. These findings indicate that the inhibition of postharvest decay in kiwifruit by HWT is associated with the inhibition of spore germination of both fungal pathogens and the elicitation of defense response in the kiwifruit host. Moreover, HWT used in this study did not impair fruit quality. HWT appears to represent a potential non-chemical alternative for the effective management of postharvest decay of kiwifruit.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Project from Department of Education, Anhui Province (No. KJ2014ZD25), a Project from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31471157), and a Collaborative Project between Hefei University of Technology and USDA (No. 58-1931-4-008FN).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, 193 Tunxi Road, Hefei, 230009, China

    Huizhen Chen, Zhe Cheng, Yongsheng Liu & Jia Liu

  2. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), 2217 Wiltshire Road, Kearneysville, WV, 25430, USA

    Michael Wisniewski

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  1. Huizhen Chen
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  2. Zhe Cheng
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  3. Michael Wisniewski
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  4. Yongsheng Liu
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  5. Jia Liu
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Correspondence to Jia Liu.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Chen, H., Cheng, Z., Wisniewski, M. et al. Ecofriendly hot water treatment reduces postharvest decay and elicits defense response in kiwifruit. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 15037–15045 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4714-1

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