Resumen de Postharvest treatment with melatonin increase cherimoya (annona cherimola m.) quality during cold storage

Jorge Medina, Mihaela Iasmina Madalina Ilea, María Ruiz, María Serrano Mula, Domingo Martínez Romero

• Spain is the world’s leading producer of cherimoya, a climacteric fruit with a very short shelf life. In addition, this fruit is very sensitive to chilling injury (CI), which makes it difficult to store at low temperatures. In this study we have evaluated the effect of postharvest treatments with melatonin (MT)on the shelf life of this product and its possible impact on reducing CI. MT is an elicitor which can be found in a natural form in many plant tissues inducing a physiological response as the defense response which also is activated. For this reason, external MT applications can stimulate fruit metabolism. After MT applications, fruit were evaluated after 21 days at 7 °C and 1 additional day at 20 °C. Results showed that MT- treated fruit reduced weight loss and maintained fruit firmness. MT treatments increased the general quality of these fruits, also reducing CI showing a lower impact on surface browning. Therefore, postharvest MT treatments could be a safe and promising ...