Amelioration of chilling injury and improvement of antioxidants in pomegranate by pre and postharvest methyljasmonate application

Pomegranate fruit is one of the sensetive fruit to chilling injury (CI), when they are exposed to temperatures below 5 °C. This study applied a combination of pre and postharvest methyl jasmonate (MeJA) at 0 (control), 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mM on chilling injury (CI), antioxidant capacity and fruit quality in pomegranate fruit. Fruits were stored at 4±1 °C and 90-95% relative humidity for 4 months. MeJA treatment at 0.2 mM significantly delayed the postharvest CI and increased electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation about 54, 20 and 27 percent, repectively. In these fruits, total phenolics, DPPH scavenging activity, Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and total anthocyanine were found at higher levels in treated than control pomegranates during postharvest storage. Also, treated fruits had lower weight loss, total soluble solids (TSS), pH and higher TA and Vit C. Overall, these findings demonstrated that pre and postharvest treatments with MeJA had potential effect on enhancing tolerance of pomegranates to postharvest chilling injury, maintaining the quality and extending storability and marketing of pomegranate fruits.