Nitric oxide increases antioxidant enzyme activity and reduces chilling injury in orange fruit during storage

• Published in: New Zealand journal of crop and horticultural science 2018-04, Vol.46 (2), p.101-116
• Main Authors: Ghorbani, Bahareh, Pakkish, Zahra, Khezri, Masood
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: antioxidant enzyme; Antioxidants; Chilling; Chilling injury; Cooling; Enzymatic activity; Enzyme activity; Fruits; Hydrogen peroxide; Hydrogen storage; Injury prevention; Lipid peroxidation; Nitric oxide; orange; Oranges; Peroxidation; Pulp; Sodium; Sodium nitroprusside; storage
• ISSN: 0114-0671; 1175-8783
• DOI: 10.1080/01140671.2017.1345764

Washington navel orange, produces fruit of high nutritional value but is susceptible to chilling injury. It has previously been shown that nitric oxide (NO) can induce chilling tolerance in several types of fruit. Therefore, here, we examined the effect of using 0.25 and 0.5 mM sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as an NO donor on chilling injury in orange during storage at 3°C. We found that NO treatment reduced the incidence of chilling injury in orange fruit, with 0.5 mM SNP having the largest effect. NO treatment also reduced the lipid peroxidation levels and hydrogen peroxide contents of the peel and pulp during storage. Physiological analyses showed that NO induced the activity of several antioxidant enzymes, as well as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. These findings indicate that NO successfully alleviates chilling injury in orange fruit, possibly through the elicitation of an antioxidant response, whilst maintaining the quality of the fruit by decreasing lipid peroxidation and the hydrogen peroxide content.