Cultivar specific biochemical responses associated with chilling tolerance in mango fruits (Mangifera indica L.)

Abstract

Mango is an important commercial tropical fruit susceptible to chilling injury (CI) during low temperature storage. Therefore, it is essential to understand the cultivar variations in chilling injury sensitivity and its biochemical basis. Thus, differences in chilling injury response were studied in three mango cultivars namely, 'Alphonso', 'Dashehari' and 'Banganapalli', due to their high commercial importance. Fully matured unripe fruits were harvested, cleaned and stored at 8°C for 21 days. The cultivar 'Dashehari' exhibited less chilling injury compared to cvs. 'Alphonso' and 'Banganapalli'. Antioxidant activity of enzymes and concentration of carotenoid was high in cv. 'Alphonso' compared to the other two cultivars. The level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) was lower in cv. 'Alphonso' compared to the other two cultivars. 'Dashehari' contains higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids compared to the other cultivars analysed. tolerance of 'Dashehari' since unsaturated fatty acids are associated with chilling tolerance. Keywords storage, mango cultivars, organic acidsWhat is already known on this subject?• term storage of tropical fruits in low temperatures.Low temperature storage of mango fruits has been studied earlier and the optimum temperature for and mango fruits can be stored for two to three weeks.temperature if stored for more than three weeks.• Cultivar variations in response to chilling susceptibility revealed that cv. 'Dashehari' was less susceptible compared to ' Alphonso' and 'Banganapalli'. Cultivar 'Dashehari' exhibited higher fatty acid unsaturation ratio and maintained higher production of monoterpenoids and higher carotenoids at the end What is the expected impact on horticulture?• Cultivar variations are the key step for utilisation of genetic diversity and improved cold storage of a less susceptible cultivar will help in development of suitable storage temperatures for long-term storage.