Amelioration of postharvest chilling injury in tomato fruit by brassinosteroids treatment

To develop an effective technique to reduce chilling injury (CI) in tomato fruit, the effects of treatments with 0, 3 and 6 µM brassinosteroids (BRs) on chilling injury, electrolyte leakage, contents of malondialdehyde, proline and total phenol and activities of phospholipase D (PLD), lipoxygenase (LOX) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), were investigated in tomato fruits stored at 1°C for 21 days. Treatments with BRs, especially at 6 µM, significantly ameliorated chilling injury, reduced electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde content and increased proline content. PLD and LOX activities in fruits treated with BRs were significantly lower as compared with the control fruits. Also, fruits treated with BRs exhibited significantly higher PAL activity and total phenol content. These results suggest that that brassinosteroids has potential postharvest technology in ameliorating the chilling injury in tomato fruit.