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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Crop and Product Physiology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1702030

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in the Mechanisms of Quality Degradation and Preservation Technologies for Fresh-Cut Fruits and VegetablesView all articles

1-MCP maintains postharvest quality in winter jujube during low-temperature storage by regulating energy and sugar metabolism and enhancing antioxidant capacity

Provisionally accepted
Peihua  DuPeihua Du*Wen  TangWen TangMinjuan  LinMinjuan Lin*Wu  CuiyunWu CuiyunChuanjiang  ZhangChuanjiang ZhangBiao  XiangBiao XiangYang  CaoYang Cao
  • Tarim University, Alar, Xinjiang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

This study investigates the effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment on postharvest storage of winter jujube. The results indicate that after 1-MCP treatment, the pyruvate (PA) content in winter jujube decreased by 20% at 30 days compared to the control. The energy charge (EC), ATP, and ADP levels increased by 7%, 17%, and 27%, respectively. Activities of key enzymes involved in energy metabolism, including succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), cytochrome c oxidase (COX), H⁺- ATPase, and Ca²⁺-ATPase were elevated. Furthermore, the activities of acid invertase (AI) and neutral invertase (NI) were 27% and 26% lower, respectively, than those in the control. Sucrose synthase (SS) activity increased by 52%, while the activities of hexokinase (HK) and phosphofructokinase (PFK) decreased by 19% each. Activities of key antioxidant enzymes-superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione reductase (GR)- were significantly enhanced. Non-enzymatic antioxidants, including vitamin C (VC), flavonoids, total phenols, and reduced glutathione (GSH) contents, were effectively retained, and suppressing the accumulation of the hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and malondialdehyde (MDA). These findings suggest that 1-MCP treatment preserves the postharvest quality of winter jujube by enhancing energy metabolism, delaying sugar metabolism, and improving antioxidant capacity.

Keywords: 1-methylcyclopropene, antioxidant capacity, Energy Metabolism, Low-temperature storage, Sugar metabolism, Winter jujube

Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 13 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Du, Tang, Lin, Cuiyun, Zhang, Xiang and Cao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Peihua Du, dupeihua1997@163.com
Minjuan Lin, lmjzky@163.com

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