Maintaining the quality of postharvest broccoli by inhibiting ethylene accumulation using diacetyl

Xiaotong Li; Zan Meng; Aman Ullah Malik; Song Zhang; Qingguo Wang

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.1055651

Maintaining the quality of postharvest broccoli by inhibiting ethylene accumulation using diacetyl

Front Nutr. 2022 Nov 15:9:1055651. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1055651. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xiaotong Li¹, Zan Meng¹, Aman Ullah Malik², Song Zhang¹, Qingguo Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, China.
² Postharvest Research and Training Centre, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Abstract

Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. Italic) is rich in nutrition. However, it is susceptible to yellowing after harvest, leading to nutritional and economic losses. In this study, diacetyl, a natural food additive compound, was selected to inhibit the yellowing of broccoli florets and maintain the nutrient quality during storage time. It was found that 20 μl L^-1 diacetyl treatment for 12 h could significantly delay the yellowing and decrease the weight loss and lignin content of broccoli florets. Meanwhile, diacetyl could maintain higher contents of chlorophyll, vitamin C and flavonoids and suppress the transcript levels of chlorophyll degradation-related genes in broccoli florets. Moreover, accumulations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were inhibited by diacetyl treatment. Under diacetyl treatment, the generation of ethylene was prevented by inhibiting the activities and related-gene expressions of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) synthase and ACC oxidase. Based on our findings, exogenous diacetyl could be employed as a novel bioactive molecule for retarding the yellowing and maintaining the quality of postharvest broccoli.

Keywords: broccoli; diacetyl; ethylene biosynthesis; maintain quality; yellowing.