This study investigated the effects of naringin on soybean and mung bean sprouts postharvest quality. It was found that naringin could maintain the appearance and quality of soybean sprouts and mung bean sprouts during a 6-day storage period as well as delay the occurrence of browning in mung bean sprouts and soybean sprouts. The optimal application rate of naringin was 50-100 μg/mL, which could effectively inhibit the activity of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) in bean sprouts and increase the ascorbic acid content, where this inhibition response to the browning of mung bean sprouts and soybean sprouts was significantly reduced. Naringin treatment increased gallic acid and p-coumaric acid content in mung bean sprouts as well as the daidzin and rutin content in soybean sprouts, which was also reflected in the improvement of antioxidant activity. The binding of naringin with PPO and POD was analyzed with molecular docking, naringin, and PPO had a lower binding energy (-1.09 Kcal/mol). In conclusion, naringin application in postharvest preservation of mung bean sprouts and soybean sprouts can maintain favorable consumer quality.
Keywords: active substance; browning; naringin; postharvest preservation; sprouts.