Effect of hexanal treatment on fruit qualities and antioxidant activities on ‘Umran’ Indian jujube fruit during cold storage

Abstract

′Umran′ Indian jujube is a widely grown cultivar due to its marketable quality and productivity, resulting in excellent market value. Despite its high quality, the product′s short shelf life poses a challenge for transportation, even within the domestic market. Hexanal with three concentrations (0.15%, 0.20%, and 0.25%) was applied to the fruit of ′Umran′ Indian jujube at both pit hardening and color break stages. Harvested fruits were stored for 28 days in a cold chamber of 7.5±1°C and 90-95% RH. The changes in fruit qualities were assessed with physicochemical characteristics, bioactive compounds, and enzymatic antioxidant activities every seven days. Fruits treated with hexanal of 0.20% reduced fruit weight loss and spoilage and maintained fruit firmness, soluble solids content, carotenoid content, and antioxidant activity. The activities of cell wall degrading enzymes investigated were suppressed. Of the antioxidant activities, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase were positively activated. Therefore, these results indicated that pre-harvest application of hexanal 0.20% improved physiochemical characteristics, maintained bioactive compounds, antioxidant enzyme activities, and extended the shelf life of Indian jujube fruits up to 21 days during cold storage.

Mechanism of enhanced freshness formulation in optimizing antioxidant retention of gold kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) harvested at two maturity stages

“…The findings of the present study are in accordance with those reported by Kaur et al (2019) and Sharma et al (2023), who demonstrated that EFF suppressed the PPO enzyme activity in oriental sweet melons, grape berries and jujube fruit, respectively. PPO is a terminal oxidase that utilizes polyphenols as substrates, which leads to internal browning of fruit.…”

“…These findings indicate that EFF treatment application effectively retained AA content throughout the storage period. Our results corroborate those reported by Cheema et al (2014), Gill et al (2016), Jincy et al (2017), Silué et al (2022) and Sharma et al (2023) who illustrated that EFF retained ascorbic acid of tomato, guava, mango and jujube fruit, respectively. The maturity stage had a significant effect (p < 0.001) on AA content (Figure 1F), with M2 (3.53 mg g −1 FW) exhibiting a greater AA content than M1 (2.54 mg g −1 FW).…”

“…Results obtained from this study demonstrated that EFF-treated kiwifruit had substantially higher TPC and TFC during storage. The findings attained are in alignment to those reported by Gill et al (2016), Sharma et al (2023), andÖz et al (2023), who demonstrated that EFF effectively maintained higher phenolic content of guava, jujube and persimmon fruit, respectively. Secondary metabolites such as phenolic and flavonoid compounds are crucial for the maintenance of fruit quality, as they delay senescence induced by oxidative degradation, by functioning as antioxidants that scavenge free radicals (Gulcin, 2020).…”

Technological Advancements for Processing and Preservation of Fruits and Vegetables

“…Results obtained from this study demonstrated that EFF-treated kiwifruit had substantially higher TPC and TFC during storage. The findings attained are in alignment to those reported by Gill et al (2016), Sharma et al (2023), and Öz et al (2023), who demonstrated that EFF effectively maintained higher phenolic content of guava, jujube and persimmon fruit, respectively. Secondary metabolites such as phenolic and flavonoid compounds are crucial for the maintenance of fruit quality, as they delay senescence induced by oxidative degradation, by functioning as antioxidants that scavenge free radicals (Gulcin, 2020).…”