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Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis Planch) is a perennial deciduous vines (Tilahun et al., 2019). Its unique flavor and abundant nutrients, such as high levels of vitamin C, anthocyanins, flavone, dietary fiber, and amino acids (Drevinskas et al., 2017;Liu et al., 2019). It has high edible value and health benefits, including hypolipidemic, cholesterol-lowering, antioxidant and cosmetic properties, etc.

Grape cracking is a common phenomenon that can reach more than 50% in some varieties and can cause enormous economic losses. “Li Xiu” grapes in different developmental stages were treated with calcium chloride (5 g/L), and the cracking rate and related biochemical and genetic indices were measured in the fruit ripening stage. The results showed that calcium treatment during the flowering period could significantly reduce grape cracking. Based on the experimental results, there are several reasons as follows: first, calcium spraying during the flowering period was more favorable to calcium absorption in grapes, and the increased calcium content in the peels helped to improve the mechanical properties of the peels, thus increasing crack resistance; second, calcium treatment reduced the expression levels of genes related to glucose metabolism, which in turn reduced PG and cellulase activities, delaying the degradation of pectin and cellulose and resulting in more structural integrity of the peels; third, calcium treatment increased fruit hardness and reduced fruit ventral pressure by decreasing the expression levels of ABA-related genes and synthesis of endogenous abscisic acid (ABA), soluble sugars (SSs), and total soluble solids (TSSs).

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To improve the quality and organoleptic properties of fermented pine needle, the physiological parameters and microbial communities must be explored. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was used to explore bacterial and fungal communities during the fermentation process of pine needle after adding starter culture of 0.8% activated dry yeast and Lactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 and Bifidobacterium Breve M-16 V. During the fermentation, the total flavonoid (from 0.049 to 111.404 mg/L) and polyphenol (from 19.412 to 183.399 mg/L) contents increased rapidly from 0 to 15 days. The total sugar increased from 0 to 3 days fermentation with a range from 3.359 mg/mL to 45.502 mg/mL in yeast fermentation stage, and reached the maximum value on day 3. The content of total acid (39.167 g/L) and amino acid nitrogen (1.185 g/L) gradually increased during the entire fermentation process and reached a maximum on day 7 of bacterial fermentation. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phyla were the predominant bacteria in all time periods. At the genus level, well-known Lactobacillus was the most abundant bacterial strain on day 3, followed by Gluconobacter. The Acetobacter constituted more than 50% of the total bacterial abundance on day 1, but it decreased with the fermentation process. Exploration of fermented pine needle microbial community structure will expand the knowledge about their microbiota to manipulate the microbial community and improve their quality and organoleptic properties using different microbial recipes.