Abstract: In order to investigate the effect of 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) on cold resistance and soluble sugar content in apricots during postharvest storage, freshly harvested fruit of Xinjiang ‘Saimaiti’ apricot were decompress osmosis treated with 0.9 mg/L EBR and stored at 0 ℃ and relative humidity of 90%–95%. Chilling injury index, chilling injury rate, malondialdehyde content, cell membrane permeability and soluble sugar content were determined periodically during storage. The results showed that EBR effectively reduced the chilling injury index, chilling injury rate, malondialdehyde content, cell membrane permeability of apricots, and significantly increased the contents of fructose, sorbitol, glucose (P < 0.05), but reduced sucrose content (P < 0.05). Conclusively, this study indicated that EBR could enhance cold resistance in apricots, and the mechanism may be related to changes in fructose, sorbitol and glucose content.

Key words: 24-epibrassinolide, apricot, chilling injury, sugar