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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #93653
Title: METHYL JASMONATE IMPROVES QULAITY OF STORED ZUCCHINI SQUASH

Author
item Wang, Chien
item Buta, Joseph - George

Submitted to: Food Quality Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/2/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Zucchini squash are susceptible to chilling injury. Squash stored at temperatures below 10 C develop pitting, sunken spots, water soaked areas, shriveling and decay. These blemishes reduce market value and shorten the storage life of the squash. We have found that treatment of squash with a naturally occurring compound, methyl jasmonate, reduced chilling injury of zucchini squash. The methyl jasmonate treatment also maintained higher levels of sugars including fructose and glucose, and organic acid such as malic acid in the squash. These results showed that methyl jasmonate not only alleviated external symptoms of chilling injury but also improved internal quality of zucchini squash during storage at low temperature. Information provided in this paper is useful to other researchers and is beneficial to the produce industry and consumers.

Technical Abstract: Freshly harvested zucchini squash (Cucurbita pepo L., cv. Elite) were pressure infiltrated (82.7 kPa for 3 min) with an aqueous suspension solution of 0.1 mM methyl jasmonate, while control fruit were similarly infiltrated with distilled water. All fruit were then stored at a chilling temperature of 5 C. Chilling injury symptoms developed in the control fruit after 4 days of storage. However, the onset of chilling injury was significantly delayed by methyl jasmonate treatment. The methyl jasmonate treatment not only retarded the development of chilling symptoms in zucchini squash, but also maintained higher levels of carbohydrates and organic acids during storage compared to controls. Fructose and glucose were major carbohydrates and malic acid was the predominant organic acid in zucchini squash. Methyl jasmonate reduced the losses of these sugars and organic acids, and thus helped maintain better internal quality of zucchini squash during cold storage.