Effect of postharvest handling with ε-Polylysine on quality of cherry during ice-temperature storage

Shamidou cherry were selected as experimental materials. The effects of different concentrations of ε-Polylysine ( ε-PL) on the freshness retaining and quality of cherry at ice temperature (-0.5 ±0.5) ℃ were investigated. Results showed that compared with control group, ε-PL treatments could effectively reduce the cherry decay incidence, maintain higher peduncle fresh index and keep the original brightness of cherry. It could also inhibit the decline of total soluble solid ( TSS) content and increase of malondialdehyde ( MDA) content and improve the activities of catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) . Moreover, the treatment with the concentration of 500mg/L ε-PL could obtain better preservation effect on the quality of cherry during storage at ice- temperature. On the 70 th day of storage, the decay incidence of cherry which was treated with the concentration of 500mg/L ε-PL was controlled effectively in about 10.7%, and the control group decay incidence had reached 14.4%, and the difference was significant (p<0.05) .