Little is known on gene expression during ripening of apricot fruit (Prunus armeniaca cv. Bergeron), in particular for the enzymes involved in ethylene biosynthesis. ACC oxidase (EC 1.4.3) catalyses the last step of the ethylene biosynthesis pathway in higher plants. Based on sequence conservation of ACC oxidases, a reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) experiment was carried out to synthesize a homologous ACC oxidase probe from apricot fruit. This probe was further used to isolate a full length ACC oxidase cDNA, Pa‐ACO, from a ripe fruit cDNA library. Pa‐ACO is 1 236 bp long and contains a single open reading frame encoding a mature peptide of 319 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 36.17 kDa and a pI of 5.07. Immunoblot analysis allowed us to associate a 40 kDa protein to apricot fruit ACC oxidase. Pa‐ACO belongs to a multi‐gene family, is fruit specific and is transcriptionally regulated during ripening of apricot fruit.
The apple is one of the most important fruit tree crops in the Mediterranean region. Lebanon, in particular, is among the top apple producer countries in the Middle East; however, recently, several types of damage, particularly rot symptoms, have been detected on fruits in cold storage. This study aims to identify the causal agents of apple decay in Lebanese post-harvest facilities and characterize a set of 39 representative strains of the toxigenic fungus Penicillium. The results demonstrated that blue mould was the most frequent fungal disease associated with apples showing symptoms of decay after 3–4 months of storage at 0 °C, with an average frequency of 76.5% and 80.6% on cv. Red and cv. Golden Delicious apples, respectively. The morphological identification and phylogenetic analysis of benA gene showed that most Penicillium strains (87.2%) belong to P. expansum species whereas the remaining strains (12.8%) belong to P. solitum. Furthermore, 67.7% of P. expansum strains produced patulin when grown on apple puree for 14 days at 25 °C with values ranging from 10.7 mg kg−1 to 125.9 mg kg−1, whereas all P. solitum did not produce the mycotoxin. This study highlights the presence of Penicillium spp. and their related mycotoxin risk during apple storage and calls for the implementation of proper measures to decrease the risk of mycotoxin contamination of apple fruit products.
Studies are done on different crops worldwide to gather data allowing on one hand policy makers to implement food loss reduction strategies, and on the other hand researchers to calculate and monitor the food loss. This article identifies and quantifies the losses in the Lebanese apples at the cold storage level in Kesrwan-Mount Lebanon and recognises the main causes of those losses. A preliminary diagnosis based on key informant interviews was followed by assessing a sample of 29 Metric Tons (MT) of apples handled by 14 traders in three cold storage facilities. The sorted apples were assessed for the type of damage and its causes. The graded apples as assessed by traders were measured. A survey was also conducted with farmers, traders, and managers of cold storage facilities. The results identified the actors, the postharvest practices, three distinct postharvest systems and cost-profit values based on the usage of cold storage and the different marketing channels. Results showed that 5% of the stored apples were lost, only grade 1 (41%) and grade 2 (26%) could get a good price while the rest (28%) could hardly cover the cost of production. Hence, improving the production and postharvest systems would lead to higher quantities of good quality apples and meet high-end markets.
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