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Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are chemicals used on a wide range of horticultural crops. These exogenous chemicals, similar to endogenous plant hormones, regulate plant development and stimulate a desired growth response, such as control of plant height. One such PGR is abscisic acid (ABA), which has been used effectively to improve fruit quality, specifically sugars and phytonutrients. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exogenous applications of ABA on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit quality, such as carotenoids, soluble sugars and organic acids, and ABA on tomato leaf chlorophylls and carotenoids. Furthermore, this study compared how ABA and calcium (Ca) treatments together affect fruit quality and whether there are added benefits to treating plants with both simultaneously. ABA treatments proved effective in increasing tomato fruit soluble sugars and decreasing organic acid concentrations. This study demonstrated that ABA is a viable PGR to significantly improve tomato fruit quality, specifically pertaining to carotenoids, soluble sugar, and organic acid concentrations.
The viability of Penicillium expansum Link conidia in sporulating culture declined rapidly when exposed to 38 °C, and when conidia were exposed to 38 °C prior to inoculation of apple fruits (Malus ×domestica Borkh.), the resulting lesions were smaller than those on fruit inoculated with nonheated conidia. `Gala' apples were heated after harvest (38 °C for 4 days), pressure infiltrated with a 2% solution of CaCl2, or treated with the antagonist Pseudomonas syringae van Hall, alone or in combinations to reduce postharvest decay caused by Penicillium expansum. After up to 6 months in storage at 1 °C, no decay lesions developed on fruit that were heated after inoculation with P. expansum, or any combination of P. expansum, antagonist, or Ca. Parallel lots of heat-treated and nonheated fruit that were either infiltrated or not infiltrated with Ca were stored up to 6 months. They were then inoculated with P. expansum alone, or with the antagonist followed by P. expansum. Prior heat treatment did not influence lesion size. Calcium alone, the antagonist alone, and heat plus Ca all reduced the incidence of decay by ≈25%, whereas heat plus the antagonist reduced it by 70%. Calcium plus the antagonist or Ca plus the antagonist and heat reduced decay incidence by 89% and 91%, respectively. The integrated strategy of heat-treating fruit, followed by Ca infiltration and then treatment with an antagonist, may be a useful alternative to controlling postharvest decay with fungicides.
The effects of 36 organosilicone and conventional carbon-based surfactants on postharvest infiltration of radiolabeled and unlabeled Ca solutions into `Golden Delicious' apples (Malus domestica Borkh) were examined to devise a more efficient pressure infiltration technique to increase fruit Ca concentration. Radiolabeled Ca infiltration and the proportional increase in fruit Ca estimated by fruit weight gain from Ca solutions of known concentration were significantly enhanced by a range of surfactants having different chemical structures. Tween 60 and 80; Triton X-45, X-100, X-114, X-305, and X-405; and Silwet L-77 and L-7604 enhanced Ca infiltration. The two organosilicone surfactants, Silwet L-77 and Silwet L-7604, known for their greater capacity to lower the surface tension of solutions than conventional carbon-based surfactants, were the most effective at augmenting Ca infiltration. Applications of surfactants to fruit were as or more effective when used as a pretreatment rather than mixing the surfactant with the Ca solutions. The pressure necessary to increase Ca to levels considered sufficient to maintain fruit firmness and resist decay during storage could be lowered in fruit treated with organosilicone surfactants. Sequential postharvest surfactant and Ca treatments may be a practical means of increasing the Ca concentration in apples.
Fruit from five apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) cultivars were pressure-infiltrated at 103 kPa for 6 min with a 0%, 0.73%, 1.46%, 2.91%, or 5.82% (w/v) Ca-equivalent solution of CaCl2, Ca EDTA chelate, or buffered CaCl2 solution (Stopit). The fruit were stored at 0 ± 1C for 18 weeks and then evaluated for Ca content, firmness, and injury. Fruit treated with Ca chelate had no increase in fruit Ca content and were injured at all treatment levels. No significant differences occurred in fruit Ca levels between CaCl2 and Stopit treatments across all cultivars tested. Apples treated with Stopit were firmer than apples treated with CaCl2, when averaged across cultivars. Fruit Ca levels, firmness, and incidence of injury were positively correlated with concentrations of CaCl2 and Stopit for all cultivars.
In several experiments, strong negative correlations were found between fruit and leaf N vs. fruit color and fruit N vs. firmness, but a positive correlation existed between fruit Ca vs. firmness in apples. Based on these relationships, several models were developed to predict postharvest quality using preharvest nutrient status. Quantity and timing of N application to produce optimum-quality fruit in `Delicious', `Fuji', and `Gala' apples have also been investigated. High levels of nitrogen adversely affected fruit quality and increased endogenous ethylene and respiration. In separate experiments, the effects of seven post-bloom CaCl2 applications on various postharvest pathogens were studied in four apple cultivars. Calcium applications did not increase fruit Ca sufficiently enough to reduce colonization or maintain firmness after 4 months of 0C storage, but did slightly reduce infection by these pathogens during the growing season.
Rapid cycling Brassica rapa L. were grown for 7 days in the presence of 11 levels of zinc (Zn) in hydroponic solution culture and evaluated for changes in Zn and glucosinolate (GS) content. Zinc levels were 0.05, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, and 200 mg·L-1 Zn. Plants grown in solutions with ≥50 mg·L-1 Zn displayed severe Zn toxicity symptoms, grew little, or died and were not subsequently evaluated for GS content. Shoot Zn concentrations increased linearly with increasing Zn treatment levels. Gluconapin, which accounted for nearly 90% of the aliphatic GSs present, was the only aliphatic GS influenced by Zn, and decreased linearly with increasing Zn levels. Accumulation of glucobrassicin and 4-methoxyglucosbrassicin, both indole GSs, responded with a linear increase and quadratically, respectively, to Zn fertility. An aromatic GS, gluconasturtiin, was also influenced by Zn levels in solution, and had a quadratic response to increasing Zn. This suggested that Zn fertility can influence changes in GS that may affect flavor (bitterness, etc.) or medicinal attributes associated with the GS and their breakdown products, as well as elevate the nutritional status of Zn in the leaves of Brassica.
`Golden Delicious' apples (Malus domestica Borkh.) were treated after harvest with heat (air at 38 °C for 4 days or 42 °C for 1 day) or 2% CaCl2 (w/v; applied as a dip or pressure-infiltrated) or a combination of the two and stored at 0 °C for ≤6 months. Decay caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers.:Fr. after inoculation to a depth of 2 mm with a conidial suspension virtually was eliminated in stored fruit heated at 38 °C, regardless of Ca treatment. Apples punctured to a depth of 0.5 mm (but not 2 mm) and inoculated with B. cinerea on removal from storage were almost completely protected from poststorage decay if they had previously been pressure-infiltrated with 2% CaCl2, regardless of the heat regime. Heating fruit at 42 °C and dipping in 2% CaCl2 were only partially effective in preventing decay from either pre- or poststorage inoculations. Fruit firmness was not related to resistance to decay.
Glucosinolates (GSs) and carotenoids are important plant secondary metabolites present in several plant species, including arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Although genotypic and environmental regulation of GSs and carotenoid compounds has been reported, few studies present data on their regulation at the molecular level. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore differential expression of genes associated with GSs and carotenoids in arabidopsis in response to selenium fertilization, shown previously to impact accumulations of both classes of metabolites in Brassica species. Arabidopsis was grown under 0.0 or 10.0 μM Na2SeO4 in hydroponic culture. Shoot and root tissue samples were collected before anthesis to measure GSs and carotenoid compounds and conduct gene expression analysis. Gene expression was determined using arabidopsis oligonucleotide chips containing more than 31,000 genes. There were 1274 differentially expressed genes in response to selenium (Se), of which 516 genes were upregulated. Ontology analysis partitioned differentially expressed genes into 20 classes. Biosynthesis pathway analysis using AraCyc revealed that four GSs, one carotenoid, and one chlorophyll biosynthesis pathways were invoked by the differentially expressed genes. Involvement of the same gene in more than one biosynthesis pathway indicated that the same enzyme may be involved in multiple GS biosynthesis pathways. The decrease in carotenoid biosynthesis under Se treatment occurred through the downregulation of phytoene synthase at the beginning of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway. These findings may be useful to modify the GS and carotenoid levels in arabidopsis and may lead to modification in agriculturally important plant species.
Previous research in our group demonstrated that short-duration exposure to narrow-band blue wavelengths of light can improve the nutritional quality of sprouting broccoli (Brassica oleacea var. italica) microgreens. The objective of this study was to measure the impact of different percentages of blue light on the concentrations of nutritional quality parameters of sprouting broccoli microgreens and to compare incandescent/fluorescent light with light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Microgreen seeds were cultured hydroponically on growing pads under light treatments of: 1) fluorescent/incandescent light; 2) 5% blue (442 to 452 nm)/95% red (622 to 632 nm); 3) 5% blue/85% red/10% green (525 to 535 nm); 4) 20% blue/80% red; and 5) 20% blue/70% red/10% green in controlled environments. Microgreens were grown at an air temperature of 24 °C and a 16-hour photoperiod using a light intensity of 250 μmol·m−2·s−1 for all light treatments. On emergence of the first true leaf, a nutrient solution of 42 mg·L−1 nitrogen (N) (20% Hoagland’s #2 solution) was used to submerge the growing pads. Microgreens were harvested after 20 days under the light treatments and shoot tissues were processed and measured for nutritionally important shoot pigments, glucosinolates, and mineral nutrients. Microgreens under the fluorescent/incandescent light treatment had significantly lower shoot fresh mass than plants under the 5% blue/95% red, 5% blue/85% red/10% green, and the 20% blue/80% red LED light treatments. The highest concentrations of shoot tissue chlorophyll, β-carotene, lutein, total carotenoids, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), boron (B), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), zinc (Zn), glucoiberin, glucoraphanin, 4-methoxyglucobrassicin, and neoglucobrassicin were found in microgreens grown under the 20% blue/80% red light treatment. In general, the fluorescent/incandescent light treatment resulted in significantly lower concentrations of most metabolites measured in the sprouting broccoli tissue. Results from the current study clearly support data from many previous reports that describe stimulation of primary and secondary metabolite biosynthesis by exposure to blue light wavelengths from LEDs.