Preharvest 24-epibrassinolide treatment prolongs harvest duration and shelf life in sweet corn

Ruiqiu Fang; Guihua Lv; Xianwen Zhang; Jianjian Chen; Xiaolong Chen; Bin Wang

doi:10.1016/j.fochms.2023.100179

Preharvest 24-epibrassinolide treatment prolongs harvest duration and shelf life in sweet corn

Food Chem (Oxf). 2023 Aug 7:7:100179. doi: 10.1016/j.fochms.2023.100179. eCollection 2023 Dec 30.

Authors

Ruiqiu Fang¹, Guihua Lv¹, Xianwen Zhang², Jianjian Chen¹, Xiaolong Chen¹, Bin Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Maize and Featured Upland Crops, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dongyang, Zhejiang 322100, China.
² Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310021, China.
³ Institute of Vegetables, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310021, China.

Abstract

Sweet corn is perishable and have limited harvest duration and shelf life due to their quality deterioration. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are one of the most predominant factors for maintaining quality of sweet corn during and after harvest. Brassinosteroids (BRs) can enhance the activity of antioxidant enzymes and decrease the ROS level in plants. In this study, we found that a bioactive BR (24-epibrassinolide, EBR) treatment before harvest markedly inhibited change of quality indicators (MDA content, weight loss rate, and soluble sugar content) during and after harvest. Further analysis revealed that EBR promoted the activity and transcriptions of antioxidant enzymes, maintaining lower ROS level in kernels. Meanwhile, exogenous EBR increased the expression level of genes controlling sucrose transport in sweet corn kernels. Bioinformatics and binding analysis identified that BR transcription factor ZmBES1/ZmBZR1-10 might potentially bind to and upregulate transcriptions of antioxidant enzyme genes including SOD and POD genes, and sucrose transport-related genes including SUT and SWEET genes. These results indicated that exogenous application of EBR ameliorates quality during and after harvest by improving the antioxidant capacity and photosynthetic assimilates accumulation rate of sweet corn, thus prolonging harvest duration and shelf life in sweet corn.

Keywords: 24-Epibrassinolide; Antioxidant enzymes; Shelf life; Sugar transporters; Sweet corn.