Enhancing Coloration and Extending the Shelf Life of Plums While Alleviating Leaf Abscission by Utilizing Lisophosphatidylethanolamine and Oleic Acid

Abstract

Poor coloration of "Kelsey" plum fruits is considered one of the major problems that have been facing Egyptian growers, which hindered the expansion of "Kelsey" plum cultivation. Producers are in critical need to an effective treatment that enhances skin coloration while maintaining their keeping quality and their shelf life after harvest. Thus, the application of Ethrel, as an ethylene-releasing compound could increase anthocyanin content in plum skin. However, it has negative impact on leaf defoliation, yellowing in addition to its adverse effect on fruit storability. Thus, the objectives of this study were to enhance coloration of plums by using Ethrel before harvest in a new formulation to mitigate its damaging effects on leaves and fruits. Treatments included water as the control, Ethrel at 500 ppm alone or in a combination with either lisophos or oleic acid in addition to Ethrel plus both lisophos at 400 ppm and oleic acid at 400 ppm. Meanwhile, each of lisophos and oleic acid were applied individually. The results proved that the incorporation of both lisophos and oleic acid in one formulation with Ethrel mitigated the adverse effects of Ethrel on leaf abscission, leaf senescence and fruit shelf life and enhanced anthocyanin content in plums skin, in addition to prolonging their shelf life. Meanwhile, the incorporation of either lisophos or oleic acid to Ethrel resulted in greater anthocyanin content as compared with the control. Moreover, the formulation containing Ethrel plus both lisophos and oleic acid caused a significant increase in anthocyanin as compared with Ethrel alone or in the presence of either one of the two compounds. Furthermore, electrolyte leakage was significantly decreased in fruit tissue treated with Ethrel plus both lisophos and oleic acid. While lisophos alone resulted in the lowest percentage of such leakage of electrolytes in a consistent manner. In conclusion, this study provided an applicable solution to plum growers that could be adapted on a field scale to solve the problem of color enhancement without an associated leaf abscission or short shelf life by using Ethrel in a formulation containing lisophos and oleic acid.

Effect of Preharvest Application of ProTone, Methionine and Oleic acid as Alternative Materials to Ethephon for Enhancing Berry Coloration and Quality of "Flame Seedless" Table Grapes

“…On the other hand, all the used treatments lowered berry skin chlorophylls. The above trend of results whether for chlorophyll a or b agreed with those reported by Farag et al (2012) and Farag and Attia (2016). Ethephon stimulated the progressive loss of chlorophylls in apples (Huybrechts et al, 2003).…”

“…Oleic acid is unsaturated fatty acid reported to advance fruit coloration and maintaining fruit quality of some fruit species such as apricotsand plums (Farag et al, 2012: Farag andAttia, 2016).…”

Effect of some Preharvest Treatments on Fruit Drop, Quality and Shelf Life of "Anna" Apple Fruits تاثیر بعض معاملات ما قبل الحصاد على تساقط الثمار والجودة وحیاة الرف لثمار التفاح صنف الأنا

“…Treating fruits with LPE after AVG significantly increased fruit firmness due to LPE can maintain the plasma membrane integrity and mitigated the effect of ethylene on the cell wall or membranes lipid degradation (Farag and Palta, 1993a). Moreover, LPE retarded polygalacturonase-mediated fruit softening (Hong et al, 2008) and reduced activity of phospholipase D. The obtained results concerning this effect are in agreement with the findings of Farag and Attia (2016).…”

Pre-harvest Treatments to Reduce Incidence of the Soft Scald and to Enhance Coloration of “Anna” Apple Fruits

“…To explain the role of lisophos on apple fruit firmness, Farag and Attia, 2016 showed that preharvest spray of lisophos on plum fruit trees increased fruit firmness at harvest and keeping storability during storage. In the present study, lisophos spray showed positive effects on increasing fruit firmness (Table 2).…”

“…Poor coloration has been a serious problem in affecting growers profit from these cultivars (Boyer and Liu, 2004). Lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) such as lisophos is a natural lipid has been used as a coloring and ripening agent in many fruit crops such as apple, cranberry, tomato and plum (Farag andPalta, 1989, 1992 and Farag and Attia, 2016) while keeping fruit quality by either lowering the respiration rate, inhibiting the activity of cell wall hydrolyses and by retarding senescence (Farag and Palta, 1993). On the other hand, calcium plays an important role in maintaining the quality and storability of fruit (Bhat et al, 2012: Wehr et al, 2004.…”