Exogenous Postharvest Application of Calcium Chloride and Salicylic Acid to Maintain the Quality of Broccoli Florets

Hossam S El-Beltagi; Marwa Rashad Ali; Khaled M A Ramadan; Raheel Anwar; Tarek A Shalaby; Adel A Rezk; Sherif Mohamed El-Ganainy; Samy F Mahmoud; Mohamed Alkafafy; Mohamed M El-Mogy

doi:10.3390/plants11111513

Exogenous Postharvest Application of Calcium Chloride and Salicylic Acid to Maintain the Quality of Broccoli Florets

Plants (Basel). 2022 Jun 5;11(11):1513. doi: 10.3390/plants11111513.

Authors

Hossam S El-Beltagi^{1

2

3}, Marwa Rashad Ali⁴, Khaled M A Ramadan^{1

5

6}, Raheel Anwar⁷, Tarek A Shalaby^{1

8

9}, Adel A Rezk^{1

2

10}, Sherif Mohamed El-Ganainy^{1

8

11}, Samy F Mahmoud¹², Mohamed Alkafafy¹², Mohamed M El-Mogy¹³

Affiliations

¹ Al Bilad Bank Scholarly Chair for Food Security in Saudi Arabia, The Deanship of Scientific Research, The Vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
² Agricultural Biotechnology Department, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
³ Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Gamma St, Giza 12613, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.
⁵ Central Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11566, Egypt.
⁷ Postharvest Research and Training Centre, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan.
⁸ Department of Arid Land Agriculture, College of Agricultural and Food Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh 33516, Egypt.
¹⁰ Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Giza 12619, Egypt.
¹¹ Vegetable Diseases Research Department, Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Giza 12619, Egypt.
¹² Department of Biotechnology, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
¹³ Vegetable Crops Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.

Abstract

The importance of broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) consumption has increased in recent years due to its significant amount of anticarcinogenic and antioxidant compounds, as well as its many vitamins. However, broccoli florets are a highly perishable product which rapidly senesce and turn yellow after harvest, resulting in losses in nutritional and bioactive compounds. Thus, in this study, we evaluated the effect of postharvest exogenous of salicylic acid (SA) and calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and their combination on the quality of broccoli florets stored at 5 °C for 28 days to minimize the rapid senescence of broccoli florets. Samples treated with 2 mM SA alone or in combination with 2% CaCl₂ showed lower weight loss and lower losses of chlorophyll content, vitamin C, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, flavonoids, and glucosinolates compared with the control samples. Additionally, antioxidant activity was maintained by either SA or SA + CaCl₂ treatments while peroxidase activity was decreased. For higher quality and lower losses in antioxidant compounds of broccoli florets during refrigerated storage at 5 °C, SA + CaCl₂ treatment could be helpful for up to 21 days.

Keywords: Brassica oleracea var. italica; antioxidant activity; fresh-cut; glucosinolates; shelf-life; storability.

Abstract

Grants and funding