Effect of Pre-Harvest Melatonin and Salicylic acid treatments on Decay, Maintaining Quality and Extend the Shelf life of Strawberry fruits

Abstract

Fresh strawberry fruits are highly perishable and have a short marketing life after harvest due to their high level of respiration and deterioration of quality characteristics during storage. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the effect of pre-harvest treatments of melatonin (M) solutions at 80, 100, and 120 μM and salicylic acid solutions (SA) at 2, 4, and 6 mM and control on decay, quality attributes, and shelf life extending of fresh strawberries after harvest and during cold storage at 4˚C and 90-95% relative humidity for 15 days, during two successive seasons of 2021 and 2022. The obtained results revealed that application of melatonin at 120 μM was notably effective in reducing decay and weight loss as well as giving a good general appearance (score) after 15 days at 4°C; on the contrary, untreated control had a poor general appearance after 9 days of storage, as well as maintaining taste index and total soluble solids. Moreover, maintaining acidity, the content of ascorbic acid, the total content of anthocyanin, and the total phenol content increased compared to the untreated control during storage at 4 °C for 15 days. Followed by salicylic acid (SA) at 4 mM. Whereas the remaining treatments were less effective in this concern in two seasons.