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Effects of Preharvest Calcium Spray on Decay Incidence and the Contents of Sugar and Organic Acid in Chinese Dwarf Cherry (Cerasus humilis (Bge.) Sok.) during Storage

HE Yinxia, LI Weidong, YE Liqin, ZHANG Zhongshuang, WANG Anqi, HAO Juhui, CHANG Lijun   

  1. School of Chinese Materia Medica, Engineering Research Center of Good Agricultural Practice for Chinese Crude Drugs,
    Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China
  • Online:2016-07-25 Published:2016-07-26
  • Contact: LI Weidong

Abstract:

The effects of spraying with different concentrations of Ca(NO3)2 solution (1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%) at one week
before harvest on decay incidence and the contents of sugar and organic acid as well as their ratio in fruits of the ‘Jing’ ou
1’ cultivar of Chinese dwarf cherry (Cerasus humilis (Bge.) Sok.) were studied during storage. The results indicated that
preharvest calcium spray reduced the incidence of decay and increased the contents of sugar and organic acid during storage.
On the 45th day of storage, the decay incidence of the fruit treated with 1.5% Ca(NO3)2 preharvest was only 8.4% and the
contents of sucrose, glucose, sorbitol, malic acid, succinic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid and oxalic acid and sugar/acid ratio
in the treatment group were significantly higher than in the control and other calcium treatments. These findings suggest that
preharvest calcium treatment is helpful to preserve the quality of Chinese dwarf cherry fruits during storage and the best
application regimen is spraying 1.5% Ca(NO3)2 at one week preharvest.

Key words: Cerasus humilis, storage, sugar and organic acid, preharvest, calcium spray

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