Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 University of Birjand

2 Birjand

Abstract

Introduction: Seedless barberry (Berberis vulgaris L. var. asperma) is one of the most important horticultural and medicinal crops and also valuable fruit in South Khorasan province. Fresh barberry fruit has a very short shelf life, due to the sensitive juicy fruit tissue in the ripening stage and decay during storage. Hence, most of the harvested fruits are dried traditionally or processed as juice, jam, and other products. However, the quality of both fresh and dried fruit is low due to different environmental stresses such as drought and salt stress and consequently deficiency of minerals during growth and development and also at harvest and during storage. It has been reported that pre-harvest foliar spray of calcium salts and salicylic acid can improve resistance to pathogens before harvest and reduce physiological disorders during handling and storage in many fruits. However, there is no information regarding the effect of calcium and salicylic acid spray as well as storage duration on fresh seedless barberry fruit. The objective of the current study, therefore, was to investigate the effects of the preharvest application of calcium chloride and salicylic acid on physiological attributes and postharvest quality of barberry fruits during long-term cold storage.
Materials and Methods: The experiment was conducted as split-plot in time and in a randomized complete block design with five treatments and in three replicates in the Research Orchard of Agricultural Faculty of the University of Birjand during 2014. Fifteen similar and 25-years old trees were used for the experiment. Pre-harvest treatments of foliar spraying were salicylic acid (1 and 3 mM) and calcium chloride (1 and 2%) and distilled water as control. Sprays were applied at 30 and 15 days before harvest. Fruits were harvested at commercial ripening stage, packed in plastic boxes and stored at cold room at 4±0.5 °C and 85±5 RH. Physicochemical and quality evaluations including fruit fresh weight and volume, and juice volumes of 100 berries, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), titrable acidity (TA), ascorbic acid, weight loss, electrolyte leakage of fruit and calcium content of leave and fruit were measured at harvest and after 30, 60 and 90 days of storage. Analysis of data was performed using Gen Stat program (ver 12) and comparison of means was done by LSD test at 5% probability.
Results and Discussion: The analysis of variance showed that the main effects of foliar spray with calcium chloride, salicylic acid and interaction of treatments were significant in storage time. The results showed that 1 mM of salicylic acid increased the fruit fresh weight, fruit volume and fruit juice, pH, total soluble solids, ascorbic acid and titrable acidity compared to other treatments. It has been reported that salicylic acid increases cell division and growth resulting in greater yield. It was also observed that application of salicylic acid at 3mM reduced electrolyte leakage significantly that can be useful to reduce chilling injury. The lowest weight loss was obtained in sprayed fruit with calcium chloride (2%) during cold storage, in agreement with the previouswork on plum. Foliar application of calcium chloride increased the calcium content of leave and fruit, although calcium application was not a significant effect in fruit tissue. Generally, using of chemical treatments increased the physicochemical characteristics of the fruit in seedless barberry, among them calcium chloride 2% and salicylic acid at 1 mM were most effective.
Conclusions: It can be concluded that pre-harvest spraying of seedless barberry shrub with salicylic acid and calcium chloride can improve the quality of fruit as well as extend the storage life. This is because a foliar application with salicylic acid and calcium chloride significantly affected fresh fruit weight, weight loss, fruit volume, electrolyte leakage, pH, TSS, TA and ascorbic acid in treated fruit compared to the control. Salicylic acid at 3 mM significantly decreased electrolyte leakage, which can be used as a useful tool for increasing resistance to chilling injury during long-term storage. However, further studies are needed as the effect of chemical sprays on fruit quality and quantity properties depend on different factors such as tree age and types, environmental conditions during and after the spray and also chemical concentration.

Keywords

1- Aghdam M., Mostofi Y., Motallebiazar A., Ghasemnezhad M., and Moghaddam J. F. 2009. Effects of MeSA vapor treatment on the postharvest quality of Hayward kiwifruit. p. 473-478. In M. Erkan and U. Aksoy (ed.) Proceeding of the 6th International Postharvest Symposium. 8-12 April. 2009. Antalya, Turkey.
2- Ahrendt L.W.A. 1961. Berberis and Mahonia – a taxonomic revision. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany, 57: 67–68.
3- Asghari M., and Aghdam M.S. 2010. Impact of salicylic acid on post-harvest physiology of horticultural crops. Trends in Food Science and Technology, 21: 502-509.
4- Babalar M., Asghari M., Talaei A., and Khosroshahi A. 2007. Effect of pre- and postharvest salicylic acid treatment on ethylene production, fungal decay and overall quality of Selva strawberry fruit. Food chemistry, 105: 449-453.
5- Chaplin G.R., and Scott K.J. 1980. Association of calcium in chilling injury susceptibility of stored avocados. Horticultural Science, 15: 514-522.
6- Cheour F., Willemot C., Arul J., Makhlouf J., and Desjardins Y. 1991. Postharvest response of two strawberry cultivars to foliar application of CaCl2. HortScience, 26: 1186–1188.
7- Cioroi M. 2007. Study on L-ascorbic acid contents from exotic fruits. Cercetari Agronomice Moldova, 1: 23-27.
8- Ding C.K., Chachin K., Hamauzu Y., Ueda Y., and Imahori Y. 1998. Effects of storage temperatures on physiology and quality of loquat fruit. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 14(3): 309-315.
9- Ding Z.S., Tian S.P., Zheng X.L., Zhou Z.W., and Xu Y. 2007. Responses of reactive oxygen metabolism and quality in mango fruit to exogenous oxalic acid or salicylic acid under chilling temperature stress. Physiologia Plantarum, 130(1): 112-121.
10- Esteves M.T., Carvalho V.D., Chitarra M.I., and Paula M.B. 1984. Characteristics of fruits of six guava (Psidium guajava L.) cultivars during ripening. II. Vitamin C and tannins contents Annal do VII Congreso Brasileiro de Fruticultura, 490-500.
11- Fallahi E., Conway W.S., Hickey K.D., and Sams C.E. 1997. The role of calcium and nitrogen in postharvest quality and disease resistance of apples. Horticultural Science, 32: 831-835.
12- Ferguson I.B., and Boyd L.M. 2002. Inorganic nutrients and fruit quality In: Fruit Quality and Its Biological Basis (Knee M. ed.). Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, UK. 17-45.
13- Ferguson I. 1984. Calcium in plant senescence and fruit ripening. Plant, Cell and Environment, 7(6): 477-489.
14- Gastol M., and Domagala-Swiatkiewicz I. 2006. Effect of foliar sprays on potassium, magnesium and calcium distribution in fruits of the pear. Journal of Fruit and Ornamental Plant Research, 14(2): 169-176.
15- Gundogdu M. 2013. Determination of antioxidant capacities and biochemical compounds of Berberis vulgaris L. fruits. Advances in Environmental Biology, 7(2): 344-8.
16- Hayat S., Fariduddin Q., Ali B., and Ahmad A. 2005. Effect of salicylic acid on growth and enzyme activities of wheat seedlings. Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 53: 433-437.
17- Hu Y., and Schmidhalter U. 2005. Drought and salinity: a comparison of their effects on mineral nutrition of plants. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 168(4): 541-549.
18- Javaheri M., Mashayekhi K., Dadkhah A., and Zaker Tavallaee F. 2012. Effects of salicylic acid on yield and quality characters of tomato fruit (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.). International Journal of Agriculture and Crop Sciences, 4: 1184-1187.
19- Kafi M., and Balandari A. 2004. Berberis (Production and Processing). Ferdowsi University Press, Mashhad, Iran, p. 210.
20- Kalarani M.K., Thangaraj M., Sivakumar R., and Mallika V. 2002. Effects of salicylic acid on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) productivity. Crop Research, 23: 486-492.
21- Karlidag H., Yildirim E., and Turan M. 2009. Salicylic acid ameliorates the adverse effect of salt stress on strawberry. Scientia Agricola, 66(2): 180-187.
22- Katsurayama J.M., Amarante C.V.T.d., Steffens C.A., and Pereira A.J. 2011. Preharvest spraying with commercial sources of calcium for bitter pit control in 'Catarina' apples. Revista Brasileira de Fruticultura, 33: 353-361.
23- Knee M. 2002. Fruit quality and its biological basis. Sheffield Academic Press (CRC Press).
24- Levy D., Poovaiah B.W., and Kolattukudy P.E. 1979. Effects of Calcium infiltration on membrane leakage and changes in phospholipid and fatty-acid content in apples during senescence. Plant Physiology, 63(5): 157-158.
25- Lu X., Sun D., Li Y., Shi W., and Sun G. 2011. Pre- and post-harvest salicylic acid treatments alleviate internal browning and maintain quality of winter pineapple fruit. Scientia Horticulturae, 130: 97-101.
26- Moradinezhad F., and Khayyat M. 2014. Effects of intermittent warming and prestorage treatments (hot water, salicylic acid, calcium chloride) on postharvest life of pomegranate fruit cv. ‘Shishe-Kab’ during long-term cold storage. International Journal of Horticultural Science and Technology, 1(1): 43-51.
27- Moradinezhad F., Khayyat M., and Saeb H. 2013. Combination effects of postharvest treatments and modified atmosphere packaging on shelf life and quality of Iranian pomegranate fruit cv. Sheshi-kab. International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation, 3(3): 244-256.
28- Neilsen G.H., and Neilsen D. 2001. Effect of foliar Zn, form and timing of Ca sprays on fruit Ca concentration in new apple cultivars. In International Symposium on Foliar Nutrition of Perennial Fruit Plants, 594: 435-443.
29- Padayatty, S.J., Katz, A., Wang, Y., Eck, P., Kwon, O., Lee, J.H., Chen, S., Corpe, C., Dutta, A., Dutta, S.K. and Levine, M. 2003. Vitamin C as an antioxidant: evaluation of its role in disease prevention. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 22(1): 18-35.
30- Pila N., Gol N.B., and Rao T.V.R. 2010. Effect of post harvest treatments on physicochemical characteristics and shelf life of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) fruits during storage. American-Eurasian Journal Agriculture Environment Science, 9: 470-479.
31- Poovaiah B. 1986. Role of Calcium in prolonging storage life of fruits and vegetables. Food Technology, 40: 86-89.
32- Ramezanian A., and Rahemi M. 2011. Chilling resistance in pomegranate fruits with spermidine and calcium chloride treatments. International Journal of Fruit Science, 11: 276-285.
33- Ramezanian A., Rahemi M., and Vazifehshenas M.R. 2009. Effects of foliar application of calcium chloride and urea on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of pomegranate fruits. Scientia Horticulturae, 121: 171-175.
34- Raskina I. 1992. Role of salicylic acid in plants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology, 43: 439-463.
35- Razavi F., Hajilou J., Dehgan G., Hassani R.N.B., and Turchi M. 2014. Enhancement of postharvest quality of peach fruit by salicylic acid treatment. International Journal of Biosciences, 4: 177-184.
36- Rehab M. 2013. Effect of post-harvest salicylic acid treatments on fruit quality of peach cv. Flordaprince during cold storage. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 7: 920-927.
37- Saltveit M. 2002. The rate of ion leakage from chilling-sensitive tissue does not immediately increase upon exposure to chilling temperatures. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 26: 295-304.
38- Saure M.C. 2005. Calcium translocation to fleshy fruit: its mechanism and endogenous control. Scientia Horticulturae, 105: 65-89.
39- Sayyari M., Babalar M., Kalantari S., Serrano M., and Valero D. 2009. Effect of salicylic acid treatment on reducing chilling injury in stored pomegranates. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 53: 152-154.
40- Schuman G.E., Stanley M.A., and Knudsen D. 1973. Automated total nitrogen analysis of soil and plant samples. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 37(3): 480-481.
41- Senaratna T., Touchell D., Bunn E., and Dixon K. 2000. Acetyl salicylic acid (Aspirin) and salicylic acid induce multiple stress tolerance in bean and tomato plants. Plant Growth Regulation, 30: 157-161.
42- Shakirova F.M., Sakhabutdinova A.R., Bezrukova M.V., Fatkhutdinova R.A., and Fatkhutdinova D.R. 2003. Changes in the hormonal status of wheat seedlings induced by salicylic acid and salinity, Plant Science, 164: 317-322.
43- Shokrollah F.S., Hajilou J., Zaare N.F., Tabatabaei S.J., and Naghshiband H.R. 2014. Effects of putrescine, calcium chloride and salicylic acid on quality and storage life of plum fruit cv. Shablon. Bioresource Technology, 5: 12-15.
44- Singh R., Sharma R.R., Kumar S., Gupta R.K., and Patil R.T. 2008. Vermicompost substitution influences growth, physiological disorders, fruit yield and quality of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.). Bioresource Technology, 99: 8507-8511.
45- Supapvanich S. 2015. Effects of preharvest salicylic acid treatment on chilling injury alleviation and quality of Lemon basil and Holy basil during cold storage. Journal of Food Science, 6: 26-30
46- Taylor M.D., and Locascio S.J. 2004. Blossom-end rot: A calcium deficiency. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 27: 123-139.
47- Walsh L.M. 1971. Instrumental methods for analysis of soils and plant tissue. Soil Science Society of America. 5: 222-225.
48- Wang L., Chen S., Kong W., Li S., and Archbold D.D. 2006. Salicylic acid pretreatment alleviates chilling injury and affects the antioxidant system and heat shock proteins of peaches during cold storage. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 41: 244-251.
49- Zheng Y., and Zhang Q. 2004. Effects of polyamines and salicylic acid on postharvest storage of ‘Ponkan’ mandarin. Journal of Acta Horticulturae, 632: 317-320.
50- Zokaee Khosroshahi M.R.Z., Esna-Ashari M., and Ershadi A. 2007. Effect of exogenous putrescine on post-harvest life of strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) fruit, cultivar Selva. Scientia Horticulturae, 114(1): 27–32.
CAPTCHA Image