Mousa Arshad; Masoud Haghshenas
Abstract
Fruit ripening involves marked physiological and biochemical changes that affect fruit color, taste, aroma, texture, and nutritional value. A significant amount of research has shown that chitosan interacts with other postharvest treatments, which can enhance the impact of the chitosan coating. This ...
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Fruit ripening involves marked physiological and biochemical changes that affect fruit color, taste, aroma, texture, and nutritional value. A significant amount of research has shown that chitosan interacts with other postharvest treatments, which can enhance the impact of the chitosan coating. This study considered the effects of chitosan coating and melatonin on banana shelf-life and fruit quality at the green mature stage. The studied variables had three levels of melatonin 0, 75, and 150 mg L-1, two levels of chitosan coating 0, 0.25, and 0.5%, and three storage durations 3, 6, and 9 days. Fruits were harvested at the green mature stage and stored at 25 °C and 80% RH for 9 days. The results showed that melatonin and chitosan coating interacted and significantly affected green mature banana quality and shelf-life during the storage time. Chitosan and melatonin interaction delayed the decrease in chlorophyll and the increase in carotenoids, fruit maturity, and color change. Our results showed that on the ninth day of storage under chitosan (0.5%) treatment along with melatonin at a concentration of 150 mg L-1, the total chlorophyll content became 3.89% lower than that under control conditions. The level of antioxidant enzyme activity in the treated samples after 3, 6, and 9 days of storage was more than in the control sample. The results showed that chitosan (0.5%) and melatonin (150 mg L-1) successfully increased the shelf life of banana fruits.
Yaaghoob Hosseini; Hamed Hassanzadeh Khankahdani; Ramezan Rezazadeh
Abstract
‘Siyahoo’ mandarin (Citrus reticulata) is one of the most important high-quality cultivars of citrus. The alternate bearing, especially in old trees, is one of the most important economic problems faced by this cultivar, which adversely affects the fruit quality. This study was carried out ...
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‘Siyahoo’ mandarin (Citrus reticulata) is one of the most important high-quality cultivars of citrus. The alternate bearing, especially in old trees, is one of the most important economic problems faced by this cultivar, which adversely affects the fruit quality. This study was carried out to examine the effects of the timing of nitrogen foliar application (mid-November, mid-December, and mid-January) as urea 0.5% and harvest time (the first time: concordant with the minimum commercial ratio of TSS/TA and the second time: 45 days after the first time) on improving the fruit yield and quality of ‘Siyahoo’ mandarin during five successive years from 2012 to 2017 using 36 trees. The results showed that the second harvest time (conventionally practiced) produced the highest yield compared to the first harvest time (for the lowest TSS/TA ratio). The highest yield was obtained in the second harvest time when nitrogen was sprayed in November. The significant interaction of harvest time and spray timing revealed the lower pH (~3) in the first harvest compared to the second one (~4). Nitrogen spraying in November and January yielded the highest (8-10) and lowest (<8) TSS/TA ratio, respectively. Although, the effect of the timing of nitrogen spraying on the fruit weight was not significant, spraying in January increased the fruit weight by 10% compared to the November spraying. Variations in the fruit diameter followed a similar pattern to variation in the fruit weight, which was due to their correlations. In conclusion, it is recommended to harvest the fruits after second nitrogen application, because the higher fruit yield and quality in terms of sweetness and flavor (TSS/TA ratio) are more acceptable.
