UV treatment improved the quality of postharvest fruits and vegetables by inducing resistance

This article reviews recent applications of UV-A, -B and -C in postharvest storage of fruits and vegetables, including effect on disease occurrence, phenolic metabolism and important quality indicators, finds that UV treatment as an acceptable abiotic stress can induce plants to produce defense systems that activate the signaling molecules in advance of the host, including ROS, polyamines, ABA, ethylene, etc, this directly leads to an increase in the resistance of fruits and vegetables to diseases, senescence, and chilling injury during storage.Key findings and conclusionsThis review focuses on the relationship between fruit antifungal properties induced by UV treatment and changes in the ultrastructure of the cell wall, and summarizes the effect of UV treatment on ethylene production, respiration rate, firmness, chlorophyll metabolism, enzymatic antioxidant system and non-enzymatic antioxidant system. Particular findings are that the initial fluctuating effect of UV-B treatment on the metabolism of phenolic substances in fruits and vegetables is mainly caused by flavonoids, not non-flavonoids and that flavonoids are the major substances involved in the defence systems of fruits and vegetables when exposed to UV stresses.Graphical abstract
Source: Trends in Food Science and Technology - Category: Food Science Source Type: research