Changes of Sensory Quality, Flavor-Related Metabolites and Gene Expression in Peach Fruit Treated by Controlled Atmosphere (CA) under Cold Storage

Abstract

Controlled atmosphere (CA) has been used to alleviate chilling injury (CI) of horticultural crops caused by cold storage. However, the effects of CA treatment on peach fruit sensory quality and flavor-related chemicals suffering from CI remain largely unknown. Here, we stored peach fruit under CA with 5% O2 and 10% CO2 at 0 ℃ up to 28 d followed by a subsequent 3 d shelf-life at 20 ℃ (28S3). CA significantly reduced flesh browning and improved sensory quality at 28S3. Though total volatiles declined during extended cold storage, CA accumulated higher content of volatile esters and lactones than control at 28S3. A total of 14 volatiles were positively correlated with consumer acceptability, mainly including three C6 compounds, three esters and four lactones derived from the fatty acid lipoxygenase (LOX)pathway. Correspondingly, the expression levels of genes including PpLOX1, hyperoxide lyase PpHPL1 and alcohol acyltransferase PpAAT1 were positively correlated with the change of esters and lactones. CA elevated the sucrose content and the degree of fatty acids unsaturation under cold storage, which gave us clues to clarify the mechanism of resistance to cold stress. The results suggested that CA treatment improved sensory quality by alleviating CI of peach fruits under cold storage.

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“…The firmness was a crucial factor that determined taste quality and was influenced by the senescence extent, moisture content, and carbohydrate metabolism, especially for the structure substances of the cell wall. Given the storage time extension, the firmness increased quickly in the control group (Figure 2), which occurred generally during the cold storage, and similar results of firmness increasing were reported in peach, loquat, and bamboo shoots (Cai et al, 2006;Zeng et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2022). The fresh waxy corn continuously accumulated lignin after postharvest ripening and senescence, causing an increase in firmness (Gong Principal component analysis score and loading plot assessing the variance of control and SAEW-treated fresh red waxy corn during cold storage.…”

Pattern Recognition of Varieties of Peach Fruit and Pulp from Their Volatile Components and Metabolic Profile Using HS-SPME-GC/MS Combined with Multivariable Statistical Analysis

“…The metabolic composition of peaches has been previously reported [ 25 , 26 ], but none of the widely available research has made a differentiation between the compounds present in the whole fruit and those typical of the fruit pulp only. Thus, the current study follows such an approach for characterization.…”

“…Ketones come in relatively low amounts, with γ-octalactone and γ-dodecalactone being the most abundant. Lactones are usually isolated in peach volatiles, and they are flavor-contributing [ 26 ]. Lactones are also linked to a specific peach-like odor and flavor [ 44 ].…”

Metabolite Profiling Reveals the Effect of Cold Storage on Primary Metabolism in Nectarine Varieties with Contrasting Mealiness

“…However, there still needs to be more information on the Rosaceae family, particularly the genus Prunus [ 23 ]. Therefore, those works have been carried out using mainly peaches and have focused on describing the metabolic differences associated with harvest date [ 1 ], comparison of varieties at harvest [ 24 ], fruit growth and development [ 25 ], fruit ripening after cold storage [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ], and treatments affecting quality traits after cold storage [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Thus, this work aimed to identify the changes in primary metabolism induced by the effect of cold storage on immature nectarines and the changes associated with the ripening process on shelf life, where both varieties ‘Andes Nec-2’ and ‘Andes Nec-3’ exhibit contrasting susceptibility to mealiness.…”