Abstract:

Freshly harvested Hottuynia cordata Thunb was treated with different concentrations of 1-methylcyclopropene (1- MCP) for 18 h, packed with polyethylene bags of 0.04 mm in thickness and stored at 4 ℃ and relative humidity ranging 80% －90%, and edible rate, weight loss, decay rate, respiration rate, reducing sugar content, vitamin C content, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, peroxidase (POD) activity, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity of treated Hottuynia cordata Thunb were determined at proposed intervals of 4 ℃ storage. Results showed that 1-MCP treatment exhibited a good fresh-keeping effect on Houttuynia cordata Thunb, inhibited its respiration rate and the activities of PPO, POD and PAL, retarded the reductions of VC and reducing sugar, and obviously prolonged the storage and shelf life of Hottuymia cordata Thunb. 1-MCP treatment at 2000 nL/L dose revealed the best fresh-keeping effect on Hottuynia cordata Thunb, and the edible rate of treated Hottuymia cordata was still as high as 88.3% after 60 days of storage.

Key words: 1-MCP, Hottuynia cordata Thunb, storage, fresh-keeping