Abstract:

In order to improve disease-resistant capability of postharvest Shatian pomelo during storage at room temperature, the paclobutrazol was used to treat wounded fruits for evaluating the disease-resistant response due to the induction of paclobutrazol. Postharvest Shatian pomelo was cut 10 wounds with a size of 1 cm2, and then immersed in paclobutrazol solution for 1 min. The treated fruits was wrapped with PVC film and stored at room temperature after 7-day pre-storage. During storage, the color of normal peel adjacent to the wounds was changed from orange to light green at the early stage of the storage, and gradually recovered to orange. However, the wounded surface was changed from white to light green at the beginning of storage, and then to brown as the extension of storage time. The hardness of the wounds exhibited a gradual increase and the white cortex below the wounds was changed to brown. Cell wall of the wound surface layer was become thinker and grains in the white cortex of cells near to the wounds were observed. The infection rate of wounded fruits treated with paclobutrazol solution at the concentration of 1.0 mmol/L paclobutrazol was 13.33% after 90-day storage. Therefore, paclobutrazol has obvious diseaseresistance effect on postharvest Shatian pomelo fruits through the induction of paclobutrazol.

Key words: Shatian pomelo, postharvest, paclobutrazol, induced disease resistance