Effect of 1-MCP treatment on nutritive and functional properties of loquat fruit during cold storage

Freshly harvested loquat fruit were pretreated with 50 nl/L 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) for 24 h at 20 degrees C and then stored at 1 degrees C for 35 days to investigate the effect of 1-MCP on fruit nutritive and functional properties. The results show that 1-MCP-treated fruit exhibit a lower incidence of decay and higher levels of total soluble solids, total titratable acidity, fructose, glucose, sucrose, malic and lactic acids, total phenolics and total flavonoids than control fruit during storage. The 1-MCP treatment also maintains higher antioxidant activity as measured by the scavenging capacity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and superoxide radicals, and by the reducing power test compared with the control. These results suggest that 1-MCP treatment can improve the nutritive and functional properties of harvested loquat fruit, thus providing a high content in health-beneficial compounds to consumers.