Effect of Ice-Temperature and Spermidine on Chilling Sensitivity of Pepper.docVIP

Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2013, 4, 156-162 /10.4236/fns.2013.42022 Published Online February 2013 (/journal/fns) Effect of Ice-Temperature and Spermidine on Chilling Sensitivity of Pepper Dongjie Liu, Guoliang Sui, Yongzhou He, Ji Liu, Wen Qin * College of Food Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an, China. * Email: qinwen1967@ Received December 30 , 2012; revised January 30 , 2013; accepted February 7 , 2013 th th th ABSTRACT The peppers which were treated at ice-temperature for 6 hours and 1 mmol/L spermidine for 10 min, followed by cold storage (4?C ± 1?C) respectively were investigated. The results indicated that the chilling injury was delayed and re- duced by ice-temperature and spermidine treatments. Comparing with control group, ice-temperature and spermidine exerted significant effects on reduction of ascorbic acid (Vc) and chlororphyll contents, relatively high activity of su- peroxide dismutase (SOD), accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) as well as the increase of cell membrane penetra- bility. The results indicated that the spermidine and ice-temperature induced the activity of antioxidant enzyme SOD and maintained higher defence-related compound Vc as well as lower levels of membrane lipid peroxidation, which may be associated with chilling injury alleviation. There was a difference between ice-temperature treatment and sper- midine treatment after 30 days. The results suggested that spermidine was more effective in reducing chilling sensitivity and prolonging storage of peppers. Keywords: Spermidine; Ice-Temperature; Pepper; Chilling Insensitivity 1. Introduction of stress-evoke activity of lipoxygenase [12]. Ice-tem- perature, the specific range of temperature between zero and freezing point which is below zero due to the elec- trolyte inside the cell,