ISSN 2360-7971
Abstract:Fruit postharvest loss is the biggest challenge in addressing sustainable food security and profit maximization. Postharvest losses occur at any stage of the value chain from harvesting time to the final consumer. Fruit continue living processes after harvesting while using the stored nutrients and resulting in ageing, decay and quality loss. The Losses that occur during storage are mainly associated with the extreme fruit respiration rate and ethylene production. In order to maintain fruit quality and extend its shelf life during the postharvest period, there is a need to control the rate of reparation and ethylene production. Different treatments like the use of a controlled atmosphere and some other various compounds like ozone gaseous, Potassium permanganate donors, 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), hydrogen gas (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and chlorine dioxide (ClO2) were approved to manage the respiration rate and ethylene production during ripening and extend fruit shelf life during storage. Nitric oxide (NO) is another gas that intervenes in many plant life processes from plant growth and development, fruit setting, ripening and senescence which also has the potential to inhibit ethylene synthesis by directly altering the activities of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase and ACC oxydase or by formation of NO- S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) compound while binding with SAM synthetase and suppressing its activities in the ethylene synthesis pathway. The behavior of NO gas to intervene in different plant physiological processes and have a significant effects on managing postharvest losses in different fruit, nowadays makes NO a beneficial gas in food preservation industry.
Keywords: Nitric oxide, Ethylene, Fruit storage, Physiological changes, Postharvest loss