METABOLIC CHANGES IN 1-METHYLCYCLOPROPENE (1-MCP)-TREATED ‘EMPIRE’ APPLE AT DIFFERENT STORAGE TEMPERATURES

‘Empire’ apple fruit can develop a chilling injury expressed as a firm flesh browning if stored at 0.5°C, and injury can be reduced by storing fruit at 2-3°C. Treatment of fruit with 1-MCP treatment, however, can make browning incidence and severity worse, especially at warmer storage temperatures.
To better understand the metabolic changes associated with flesh browning, metabolic profiling using GC-MS has been used to evaluate metabolomic changes in untreated and 1-MCP treated ‘Empire’ fruit cortex stored in controlled atmosphere (CA) storage at 0.5 and 3.3°C for up to 40 weeks.
Browning incidence and severity was higher in 1-MCP treated fruit than untreated fruit at both temperatures.
Metabolites with elevated levels in 1-MCP treated cortex stored at both 0.5 or 3.3°C included rhamnose, sorbitol, threonate, fumaric acid and glutamate.
The amino acids, leucine, valine, aspartate, threonine, isoleucine, phenylalanine and tryptophan were also elevated at both storage temperatures in 1-MCP treated fruit.
Overall, the results indicate that 1-MCP has wide ranging effects on metabolic processes of treated apple fruit.
However, whether these changes are related to flesh browning in a causal way remains uncertain.

II International Symposium on Biotechnology of Fruit Species

J. Lee, D.R. Rudell, C.B. Watkins

metabolomics, GC-MS, carbohydrates, organic acids, amino acids, phenolic compounds

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1048.13