Effect of Methyl Jasmonate and Salicylic Acid on Biochemical and Qualitative Characteristics of  Elberta peach fruit

Peach has high nutritional value that can be used fresh-able or processed. This study¡ was conducted to examin the effects of different levels of methyl jasmonate (0¡ 100 and 200 mg l1)¡ salicylic acid (0¡ 150 and 300 mg l-1)¡ and their interactions on growth¡ yield¡ fruit quality at harvest time and postharvest quality and shelf-life of „Elberta‟ peach. Thus¡ trees sprayed by treatments in two stages of green tip and pink tip of bud¡ in a split-factorial experiment within a randomized complete block design with 4 replications. At harvest time¡ many of the biochemical and quantitative characteristics of fruit such as ripening delay¡ firmness¡ total soluble solid¡ organic acids¡ pH¡ vitamin C¡ fruit water percentage¡ dry weight percentage of fruit¡ reducing sugars¡ anthocyanin¡ phenol content were studied. Generally¡ the results showed that spraying at both stages increased biochemical and quantitative characteristics of fruits compared with control and between treatments. Methyl jasmonate (200 mg l-1) combined with salicylic acid (150 mg l-1) had the highest effect on improving quantitative characteristics of fruits. Trees treated with chemical had shown greater growth improvement of fruit quaility compared wit pink tip stage at green tip stage.