Postharvest treatments to reduce chilling injury in summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) fruits during storage

PANKAJ KUMAR KANNAUJIA; RAM ASREY; AWANI KUMAR SINGH; ELDHO VARGHESE

doi:10.56093/ijas.v89i10.94594

Authors

PANKAJ KUMAR KANNAUJIA Scientist, Horticultural Crop Processing Division, ICAR-CIPHET, Abohar, Punjab
RAM ASREY Principal Scientist, ICAR-Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, Abohar, Punjab 152 116, India
AWANI KUMAR SINGH Principal Scientist, ICAR-Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, Abohar, Punjab 152 116, India
ELDHO VARGHESE Scientist, Fishery Resources Assessment Division, ICAR-CMFRI, Kochi

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v89i10.94594

Keywords:

Chilling injury, Electrolyte leakage, Malondialdehyde content, Salicylic acid, Sodium nitroprusside

Abstract

The present study was carried out to minimize postharvest problems of chilling injury during cold storage by the application of anti-chilling compounds, viz. salicylic acid (SA), sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and a nitric oxide donor (NO). For minimizing chilling injury symptoms summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) fruits were treated with salicylic acid (1.0â€“1.5 mM) and sodium nitroprusside(1.0â€“1.25 mM) followed by cold storage at 5Â±2ÂºCand 85â€“90% relative humidity. Among the used anti-chilling molecules, salicylic acid @1.0 mM provides the best results for minimizing chilling injury score (0.74) and proline content (333.87 Î¼g/g) during cold storage. Fruits treated with 1.5 mM SA and 1.0 mM SNP showed a 37.42% and 27.42% lower electrolyte leakage as compared to control. In the case of malondialdehyde (MDA) content, 1.0 and 1.5 mM SA dose showed a â‰ˆ39% and â‰ˆ36% lower content than control. Higher fruit firmness (7.07 N) retention was found in 1.0 mM sodium nitroprusside and followed by 1.0 mM salicylic acid (6.96 N) treated fruits. Overall 1.0 mM salicylic acid followed by 1.0 mM sodium nitroprusside proves better for prevention of chilling injury and lower production of malondialdehyde content.

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