Abstract: In order to investigate the effects of different composite preservative treatments on active oxygen metabolism, cell membrane permeability and browning of fresh-cut mango, fresh-cut ‘Jinhuang’ mango fruit were treated with 1.0 g/100 mL citric acid + 1.0 g/100 mL isoascorbic acid alone or in combination with 0.5 g/100 mL disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA-2Na) or 0.5 g/100 mL calcium chloride in this paper. The results showed that as compared with the control, all three treatments inhibited the increase of membrane permeability, reduced the rate of superoxide anion (O2-·) production, and maintained high activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), inhibited polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and reduced the peroxidase (POD) activity at the later stages of storage, thereby reducing browning index and maintaining high ascorbic acid (AsA) content of fresh-cut mango, but they had no significant effect on total phenol or flavonoid contents (P > 0.05). Citric acid + isoascorbic acid combined with EDTA-2Na or calcium chloride was superior to citric acid + isoascorbic acid in inhibiting the increase of cell membrane permeability, maintaining CAT activity, and decreasing the generation rate of O2-·.

Key words: fresh-cut mango, composite preservative, active oxygen metabolism, cell membrane permeability, browning