Guava fruit has a short postharvest shelf life at room temperature. Melatonin is widely used for preservation of various postharvest fruit and vegetables. In this study, an optimal melatonin treatment (600 μmol·L−1, 2 h) was identified, which effectively delayed fruit softening and reduced the incidence of anthracnose on guava fruit. Melatonin effectively enhanced the antioxidant capacity and reduced the oxidative damage to the fruit by reducing the contents of superoxide anions, hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde; improving the overall antioxidant capacity and enhancing the enzymatic antioxidants and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Melatonin significantly enhanced the activities of catalase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase. The contents of total flavonoids and ascorbic acid were maintained by melatonin. This treatment also enhanced the defense-related enzymatic activities of chitinase and phenylpropanoid pathway enzymes, including phenylalanine ammonia lyase and 4-coumaric acid-CoA-ligase. The activities of lipase, lipoxygenase and phospholipase D related to lipid metabolism were repressed by melatonin. These results showed that exogenous melatonin can maintain the quality of guava fruit and enhance its resistance to disease by improving the antioxidant and defense systems of the fruit.

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Papaya fruit is widely grown in tropical regions because of its sweet taste, vibrant color, and the huge number of health benefits it provides. Melatonin is an essential hormone that governs many plants′ biological processes. In the current study, the impact of melatonin on fruit ripening and deterioration in postharvest papaya fruit was explored. An optimum melatonin dose (400 μmol L−1, 2 h) was found to be effective in delaying fruit softening and reducing anthracnose incidence. Melatonin enhanced antioxidant activity and decreased fruit oxidative injury by lowering superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde content by enhancing the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, and by improving the antioxidant capacity of papaya fruit. Melatonin increased catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, NADH oxidase, glutathione reductase, polyphenol oxidase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase activity, as well as induced total phenol, total flavonoid, and ascorbic acid accumulation. Melatonin also enhanced the activity of defense-related enzymes, such as chitinase, 4-coumaric acid-CoA-ligase, and phenylalanine ammonia lyase, while it repressed lipid metabolism. Additionally, melatonin inhibited the development of anthracnose in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that exogenous melatonin application improves papaya fruit quality by boosting antioxidant and defense-related mechanisms.

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The development and utilization of biosensors have received a great attention from the scientific community due to their wide applications in the areas of food safety, medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring and other fields. In this paper, we report the development of a novel photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensor for glucose detection using a flexible carbon fiber/TiO2 nanopillars electrode. The carbon fiber/TiO2 nanopillars was prepared by two step process in which the first step is to grow TiO2 seeds over carbon fiber by magnetron sputtering while the second step leads the growth of TiO2 nanopillars over flexible carbon fibers substrate. Under photoexcitation, the PEC sensor showed a significant enhancement in the sensitivity for glucose detection. The detection mechanism was based on the photoelectrochemical oxidation of glucose to gluconic acid, which generated an electrical signal that was proportional to the glucose concentration. The electrochemical examinations were performed at low glucose concentrations in the range of 1–5 mM (mmol L−1) to investigate the corresponding photocurrent. The results showed that the photocurrent increases with increasing the glucose concentration. This is of great significance for the detection of hypoglycemia, and has good application prospects in the fields of nano-detection, biological diagnosis and wearable devices. The flexible carbon fiber/TiO2 PEC sensor developed in this study is a promising approach for the development of wearable devices for continuous glucose monitoring.