Effect of ozone on the activity of antioxidant and chlorophyll‐degrading enzymes during postharvest storage of coriander ( Coriandrum sativum L.)

Ascorbic and silicic acid application mitigated toxic effects of ozone in mung bean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) by modulating growth, secondary metabolites, water relations, and grain quality attributes

BACKGROUND

Elevated levels of tropospheric ozone (O3) pose a significant threat to plant health and productivity. Developing ozone-tolerant varieties is crucial for mitigating these environmental stresses. This study investigates the effects of ascorbic acid (AA) and silicic acid (SA) treatments on 12 different mung bean varieties under elevated O3 conditions.

RESULTS

A controlled pot experiment was conducted with four treatments: ambient O3 (40-45 ppb), elevated O3 (120 ppb), elevated O3 with silicic acid (0.1 mmol L-1), and high O3 with ascorbic acid (10 mmol L-1). High O3 stress negatively impacted growth attributes across all mung bean cultivars. However, both AA and SA treatments significantly alleviated O3-induced growth reductions. Under O3 stress, osmotic potential, water potential, relative water content, turgor potential, sugars, pod number, amino acids, 100-seed weight, and grain carbohydrates all decreased. In contrast, antioxidant enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase, peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase), flavonoids, tannins, and grain protein content increased.

CONCLUSION

The NIAB Mung 20-21, NIAB Mung 2006, and NIAB Mung varieties exhibited O3 resistance. Silicic acid proved to be more effective than ascorbic acid in mitigating O3 damage, though a combination of both treatments was the most beneficial for enhancing plant resilience under elevated O3 conditions. © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Effects of melatonin on inhibiting quality deterioration of postharvest water bamboo shoots

Water bamboo shoots (Zizania latifolia) is prone to quality deterioration during cold storage after harvest, which causes the decline of commodity value. Chlorophyll synthesis and lignin deposition are the major reasons for quality degradation. This paper studied the influence of exogenous melatonin (MT) on the cold storage quality of water bamboo shoots. MT treatment could delay the increase in skin browning, hardness and weight loss rate, inhibit chlorophyll synthesis and color change of water bamboo shoots, while maintain the content of total phenols and flavonoids, and inhibit lignin deposition by inhibiting the activity and gene expression of phenylpropanoid metabolism related enzymes as PAL, C4H, 4CL, CAD, and POD. The results indicate that exogenous MT treatment can effectively inhibit the quality degradation of cold stored water bamboo shoots.

Relative Water Content, Chlorophyll Index, and Photosynthetic Pigments on Lotus corniculatus L. in Response to Water Deficit

This study aimed to evaluate different L. corniculatus L. ecotypes under water-deficit conditions to identify changes in relative water content and photosynthetic pigments as indicators of physiological responses during different years' seasons. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with three replicates. Ten treatments were performed as a factorial of 2 × 5, where the first variation factor was the soil water content-no water deficit (NDW) with 100% field capacity (FC), and water deficit (DW) corresponding to 85.4% of the FC-and the second variation factor comprised four ecotypes and one variety of L. corniculatus. A significant effect was identified on the concentration of photosynthetic pigments, mainly total chlorophyll, with chlorophyll a in the 255301 ecotype with records of 187.8, 167.5, and 194.6 mg g-1 FW in WD, corresponding to an increase of 86.0%, 172.6%, and 16.6%, respectively, in relation the lower values obtained in the ecotype 202700 under NWD. In carotenoids, higher concentrations were observed in the 255301 and 202700 ecotypes and the Estanzuela Ganador variety under WD in most seasonal periods, except summer; a similar response was found in the 202700 ecotype and the Estanzuela Ganador variety during the winter season, also in WD. The results showed that the first two principal components accounted for 71.8% of the total variation, with PC1 representing chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll, and PC2 representing carotenoids, temperature, relative chlorophyll index, and relative water content. The observations were grouped based on soil moisture content, with the optimal moisture group exhibiting higher chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations. The findings suggest that soil moisture content significantly affects the performance of L. corniculatus ecotypes, and the plant shows seasonal variations in response to water-deficit conditions. This research contributes to understanding the physiological responses of L. corniculatus and its potential as a water-efficient forage crop for promoting sustainable agriculture and enhancing food security.

Polypropylene/Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) Breathing Film for Inhibiting Pseudomonas and Maintaining Microbial Communities and Postharvest Quality of Allium mongolicum Regel during Storage

Allium mongolicum Regel (A. mongolicum) is a healthy edible plant but highly perishable with a short shelf life of 1-2 d. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) could inhibit the postharvest senescence and decay of the vegetables. Thus, the aim of this study was to apply MAP with different gas permeabilities to the storage of A. mongolicum and evaluate its effects on maintaining microbial communities and the postharvest quality of A. mongolicum. The results showed that polypropylene/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PP/PBAT, abbreviated as PAT) MAP was suitable for the storage of A. mongolicum by establishing an optimal atmosphere of 0.5-0.6% O2 and 6.2-7.1% CO2 in the bag. It could delay the postharvest senescence of A. mongolicum and maintain its quality by slowing down its respiration rate and weight loss, reducing cell membrane permeability and lipid peroxidation, maintaining the cell wall, and reducing infection and the growth of microorganisms. However, A. mongolicum in HPT was more perishable than that in PAT during storage. Pseudomonas was found to be the main spoilage bacteria, and they could also be effectively inhibited by PAT-MAP. The next-generation sequencing results also showed the growth of Escherichia-Shigella, Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Streptococcus, Aureobasidium, Didymella, and Fusarium, responsible for A. mongolicum decay or human disease, was well inhibited by PAT-MAP. The results suggested that PAT-MAP could be used to maintain microbial diversity and the postharvest quality of A. mongolicum under cold storage conditions. It provided a feasible solution for the preservation, food quality, and safety control of A. mongolicum.

Ozonation process causes changes in PARP-1 expression and the metabolism of NADPH in strawberry fruit during storage

In this study, the effect of ozonation process on the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 gene expression (PARP-1) and related the NADPH metabolism in strawberry fruit during storage was determined. Our results showed that ozonation with gas at both 10 and 100 ppm concentrations increased the expression of PARP-1 in the fruit during storage. Furthermore, the ozonation process initially increased the level of NAD⁺ and NADH in the fruit, which corresponds to a higher ATP level. The storage of the fruit in an ozone atmosphere also contributed to increased activity of the NAD⁺ kinase, leading to increased levels of NADP⁺ . In turn, the higher activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase caused the ozonated fruit to show a higher level of NADPH. However, as the storage period extended and thus with increasing expression of PARP-1 in the ozonated fruit, the level of NAD⁺ decreased. In general, the ozonated fruit, which had a higher level of NADPH, showed a higher content of reduced glutathione, which in turn contributed to an increase in the antioxidant activity of the fruit and, ultimately, to a lower accumulation of reactive oxygen species.

Effect of ozone treatment on glutathione (GSH) status in selected berry fruit

The major aim of this study was to investigate the effect of one-time ozone elicitation on glutathione metabolism in selected berry fruit. Raspberry, highbush blueberry, strawberry, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit was ozonated with an ozone concentration of 15 ppm for 30 min. Research showed that ozonation process causes clear and positive changes in the metabolism of glutathione in berries. After ozonation, the fruit was characterized by increased level of glutathione (GSH), which resulted from higher activity of glutathione synthetase. Moreover, ozonation improved the metabolism activity of mitochondria leading to an increase in biosynthesis of ATP, which is the source of energy necessary for the GSH production. The higher activity of the enzymes involved in glutathione metabolism i.e. glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase and increased level of glutathione contributed to the higher ability of the fruit to scavenging the hydrogen peroxide.

Effects of different ozone treatments on the storage quality and stability of fresh peeled garlic

In order to understand their impacts on the preservation of fresh garlic, varying concentrations of ozone gas and different storage temperatures were tested for this experiment. The results demonstrated that freshly peeled garlic was best preserved by an ozone concentration of 5 ppm and storage at 4 °C compared to other treatment groups. With these optimized conditions, after 25 days of storage, the weight of garlic decreased by only 1.89% and, under the same storage conditions, the water loss rate was only 65.17% that of the control group, with a decay rate of only 12.50%. The rate of decay in the blank control group was three times that of this group. The germination rate was also low: only 30.26%, which was 57.69% that of the blank control group. The hardness was measured at 7.48 kg cm-2, 19.79% higher than that of the blank group. The content of soluble solids was 9.15 g 100 mL-1, which was 10.27% higher than that of the blank group, again proving that the above storage parameters were effective. At the same time, the titratable acid (TA) in the garlic was 15.48%, which was 1.17 times that of the blank group and corresponds to the vitamin C content. Also, the content of diallyl trisulfide only decreased by 3.98% and was 11.2% higher (P < 0.01) than that of the blank group. Finally, the validity of this optimal result was also confirmed by sensory evaluation. These results, for garlic, support the application of ozone as a safe, non-thermal preservation technique benefiting both producers and consumers.

Ozonation as a Method of Abiotic Elicitation Improving the Health-Promoting Properties of Plant Products-A Review

In this review, the primary objective was to systematize knowledge about the possibility of improving the health-promoting properties of raw plant products, defined as an increase in the content of bioactive compounds, by using ozone. The greatest attention has been paid to the postharvest treatment of plant raw materials with ozone because of its widespread use. The effect of this treatment on the health-promoting properties depends on the following different factors: type and variety of the fruit or vegetable, form and method of ozone treatment, and dosage of ozone. It seems that ozone applied in the form of ozonated water works more gently than in gaseous form. Relatively high concentration and long contact time used simultaneously might result in increased oxidative stress which leads to the degradation of quality. The majority of the literature demonstrates the degradation of vitamin C and deterioration of color after treatment with ozone. Unfortunately, it is not clear if ozone can be used as an elicitor to improve the quality of the raw material. Most sources prove that the best results in increasing the content of bioactive components can be obtained by applying ozone at a relatively low concentration for a short time immediately after harvest.

Ozone Treatment Induces Changes in Antioxidative Defense System in Blueberry Fruit During Storage

The major aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ozonation process on the level of oxidative stress markers in blueberry fruit during cold storage (4 °C). Blueberry (Vaccinum corymbosum L.) fruit was ozonated with an ozone concentration of 15 ppm for 30 min, every 12 h for 28 days of storage at 4 °C. The results indicated that ozone treatment activated a defense mechanism against oxidative stress in blueberry fruit. Ozonated fruit was characterized by higher activity of antioxidant enzymes i.e. superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase than non-ozonated fruit, over the first 21 days of storage. In turn, the level of superoxide anion radical and hydrogen peroxide in ozonated fruit was significantly lower compared with the untreated material. However, after 21 days of storage, ozone treatment contributed to the oxidative modification of protein which could be a reason of decreasing enzymes activity, involved in cell protection against oxidative stress.