Abstract:

Mangosteen harvested from Hainan province was stored at 30 or 4 ℃ to investigate the effect of storage
temperature on enzyme activities associated with peel lignification and pulp decay of mangosteen during postharvest storage.
Results showed the degree of peel lignifications varied depending on the storage temperature. Chilling injury occurred at the
early period of cold storage, leading to increased enzyme activities and lignin content, but lignin content was increased by
14.3% at the later stage of storage at 30 ℃ than storage at 4 ℃. In addition, the activities of PAL, POD, PPO and CAD in
mangosteen stored at 30 ℃ were significantly higher than those observed at 4 ℃. The peak PAL activity at 30 ℃ and 4 ℃
was 170.40 U/(g•h) and 180.12 U/(g•h), respectively. A continuous decrease in PAL activity was observed at the later stage
of storage, regardless of storage temperature. The decay index of mangosteen after 15 days of storage at 30 ℃ was 78.89%
compared to 32.22% at 4 ℃. This result may be related to inhibited enzyme activities involved in peel lignifications at low
temperature, reduced accumulation of cellular metabolites and low respiration intensity, therefore inhibiting pulp decay.

Key words: mangosteen fruit, lignification, enzymes activity, storage temperature