Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In developing countries, sulfur and chlorine based formulations are often
used for postharvest treatments of horticultural produce. Recently, some
bio-based and other safe postharvest treatments have been formulated for
loss reduction and shelf-life extension of fresh fruits.
16.2
NITRIC OXIDE (NO)
Nitric oxide is a gaseous free radical with relatively long half-life, last-
ing in biological systems up to 3-5 seconds. It is very reactive species
and forms other oxides (NO 2, N 2 O 3 and N 2 O 4 ) in presence of atmospheric
oxygen. Post harvest treatment of fruits with a low concentration of NO
gas can extend post harvest shelf-life, but the application of NO by re-
leasing from a gas cylinder is practically difficult. To solve this problem,
the solid NO-donor compounds like diethylenetriamine (DETANO) or so-
dium nitroprusside (SNP) may be used in sachets or in treatment solution
for liberating nitric oxide in storage chamber. The use of NO can be made
for delaying fruit ripening and improvement in retention of texture during
storage (Zhu et al., 2010). The better retention of cellular components such
as pigments, phenolics and antioxidants can be achieved due to reduction
in the degree of disintegration of cellular membranes with lesser electro-
lyte leakage. The chilling injury is reduced in the fruits kept in cold storage
and symptoms like fresh browning and translucency are reduced (Singh
et al., 2009). It is highly potent molecule for induction of resistance in
produce against systemic infection (Manjunatha and Shetty, 2006). It also
protect from microbial infections such as Penicillium italicum, Rhizopus
nigricans, Aspergillus niger and Monilinia fructicola (Fan et al., 2008; La-
zar et al., 2008). This resulted in post harvest shelf-life extension of treated
fruits. Due to maintenance of cellular compartmentation, the enzymes do
not come into contact with the substrate, thus preventing the rate of reac-
tion of enzymes such as polyphenol oxidase. This new direction emanated
from research on NO would allow more recent formulations for the use in
enhancing fruit self-life in ecofriendly manner.
16.3
SALICYLIC ACID
Salicylic acid (SA) or ortho-hydroxybenzoic acid is a ubiquitous simple
phenolic compound involved in the regulation of many processes in plant
 
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