Prestorage Application of Oxalic Acid to Alleviate Chilling Injury in Mango Fruit

Abstract

Effects of postharvest oxalic acid (OA) application on chilling injury (CI) in harvested mango fruit (Mangifera indica L.) were investigated using ‘Tommy Atkins’ fruit from Florida and ‘Zill’ fruit from Panzhihua. The OAwas applied to harvested fruit as a 5 or 10 mM drench for 10 or 15 minutes at 25 °C. ‘Tommy Atkins’ fruit typically develop external CI symptoms while ‘Zill’ develops internal symptoms. Development of CI symptoms was significantly reduced in OA-treated ‘Tommy Atkins’ fruit stored for 18 days at 5 °C as was the rate of softening upon transfer to 25 °C for 4 days. However, OA treatment did not substantially control fruit decay. For ‘Zill’, CI development was significantly reduced in OA-treated fruit during storage at 10 °C for 49 days and subsequently for 4 days at 25 °C. In addition, membrane integrity was enhanced and the activities of the antioxidant system enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR) were elevated, although there were decreases in both hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) content and superoxide radical production in OA-treated fruit. The activities of some enzymes of the energy cycle were also elevated in the OA-treated fruit, including succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), cytochrome C oxidase (CCO), H⁺-adenosine triphosphatase (H⁺-ATPase), and Ca²⁺- adenosine triphosphatase (Ca²⁺-ATPase). Thus, OA may enhance CI tolerance in mango fruit by maintaining membrane integrity associated with enhanced antioxidant activity and regulation of energy metabolism. Application of 5 mM OA appears to be beneficial in controlling postharvest CI in mango fruit.