Overview of Melatonin’s Impact on Postharvest Physiology and Quality of Fruits

Abstract

Fruits are important horticultural commodities because they provide nutrients that help human health. Fruits are mostly consumed as fresh products; however, there are challenges in retaining the freshness, such as the rapid ripening process that triggers fruit deterioration and reduces fruit quality and nutrient content. The postharvest quality of horticultural crops is affected by pre-and postharvest treatment. Most farmers use chemical compounds and fungicides to prevent postharvest damage; however, this results in health hazards and environmental pollution. Melatonin can be used for maintaining and improving postharvest horticultural crops such as fruits. Melatonin is a new bioactive compound that is a potent free radical scavenger and antioxidant. It has been studied as an alternative to harmful chemicals used commercially in the postharvest management of fresh products. For human health, melatonin plays a regulatory role in circadian and seasonal rhythms, sleep, retinal functions, and the immune system. In plants, melatonin regulates many biological processes, particularly when plants have experienced abiotic stress, germination, aging, and growth. The effect of exogenous melatonin on fruit ripening has focused primarily on the relationship between melatonin and ethylene plant hormones. Many studies in recent years have discussed melatonin’s role in plants, particularly in delaying plant aging as an alternative way of increasing fruit shelf life. This review provides a comprehensive overview of melatonin biosynthesis in plants, factors that affect the content of melatonin in fruit, melatonin mechanisms in fruit ripening, the impact of melatonin on postharvest fruit quality, the effect of melatonin on postharvest quality, and the change in metabolite content of horticultural products, particularly fruits.

Variability of Strawberry Fruit Quality and Shelf Life with Different Edible Coatings

“…Strawberry is a horticultural crop with a short shelf life. Several methods, such as good postharvest handling, were developed to reduce strawberry postharvest loss [28][29][30]. Several studies had shown that the shelf life of strawberries could be extended by several methods, such as cooling, atmosphere modification, and coating [31].…”

Melatonin Postharvest Treatment in Leafy ‘Fino’ Lemon Maintains Quality and Bioactive Compounds

“…Based on this statement, preharvest applications of MEL were effective on increasing yield, the content of bioactive compounds (polyphenols and anthocyanins), as has been reported for pomegranate [14,15], and enhancing the quality attributes of sweet cherries such as colour, firmness, total soluble solids (TSS) and titratable acidity (TA) [16]. As a postharvest treatment, MEL could be useful to maintain and improve the postharvest quality traits in fruit and to reduce the spoilage and decay, although different effects have been obtained depending on the fruit species [17]. In addition, MEL was also effective on increasing the content of bioactive compounds and the antioxidant activity of several fruit commodities [18] but also alleviating several abiotic stresses, the most studied being chilling injury [19].…”