Abstract: Oriental sweet melons ‘Yumeiren’ and ‘Japanese Tianbao’ were immersed in the blended solution (2% EFF and 0.5% calcium nitrate) for 3 min before storage in incubators with temperature of 15 ℃ and a relative humidity of 85% for 21 days. Melons were immersed in plain water (CK1) or 0.5% calcium nitrate solution (CK2) as the controls. The change in relative physiological indexes and aroma compounds were measured during storage period. Compared with both controls, the blended solution treatment alleviated the decrease of fruit weight, firmness, water content and soluble solid content. Alcohols and aldehydes were the major compounds during the early stage of storage period, and then decreased gradually. Meanwhile, the contents of esters revealed an increasing trend. Among esters, acetic esters were the major compounds, which followed by oxalic acid esters and other esters. The concentrations of hexanal and other 4 aldehydes in melons with blended solution treatment were significantly higher (P ＜ 0.05) than those in two controls. In addition, the content of total aroma compounds in both cultivars was higher and the appearance of aroma peak was later than that in two controls. Compared with both cultivars, ‘Japanese Tianbao’ had a longer shelf-life. Taken together, these results indicate that the blended solution (2% EFF and 0.5% calcium nitrate) is more effective than calcium nitrate solution on maintaining fruit quality, decreasing the loss of aroma compounds and delaying the ripening and senescence of oriental sweet melons.

Key words: oriental sweet melon, enhanced freshness formulation, calcium nitrate, fruit quality, aroma compounds