The effect of pre-harvest application of arginine and citric acid to reduce chilling injury in pomegranate ‘Meykhosh-e-Yazd’ fruit during cold storage

Sefidkouhi, Zahra; Askari Sarcheshmeh, Mohammad Ali; Babalar, Mesbah; Salami, Seyd Ali Reza; Sadeghi, Esmaeil

doi:10.22059/ijhs.2025.380488.2198

The effect of pre-harvest application of arginine and citric acid to reduce chilling injury in pomegranate ‘Meykhosh-e-Yazd’ fruit during cold storage

Articles in Press

Document Type : Full Paper

Authors

zahra sefidkouhi ¹

Mohammad Ali Askari Sarcheshmeh ²

Mesbah Babalar ³

Seyd Ali Reza Salami ⁴

Esmaeil Sadeghi ⁵

¹ Department of Horticultural Sciences. Faculty of Agriculture. University of Tehran. Karaj. Iran.

² Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj. Iran

³ Department of Horticultural Sciences. Faculty of Agriculture. University of Tehran. Karaj. Iran

⁴ Department Of Horticultural Sciences. Faculty of Agriculture. University of Tehran. Karaj. Iran.

⁵ Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

10.22059/ijhs.2025.380488.2198

Abstract

In this research, the impact of pre-harvest application of arginine (0, 1, 2, 3 Mm), citric acid (0, 1, 2, 3 Mm), and simultaneous treatment of arginine with citric acid (Arg 1 Mm with 1, 2, 3 Mm CA), (Arg 2 Mm with 1, 2, 3 Mm CA), (Arg 3 Mm with 1, 2, 3 Mm CA) were evaluated on chilling injury of Meykhosh -e-Yazd pomegranate fruit, as the pomegranate fruits were maintained in cold storage at 4±0.5 ºC and 85-90% Relative humidity for 120 days. The study was carried out as a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design and three replications over two successive years. The results showed that the use of arginine and citric acid treatments improved the measured traits compared to the control. The treatments of arginine 2 mM, citric acid 3 mM and simultaneous treatment of arginine 2 mM and citric acid3mM had significantly less chilling injury than control fruits. Treated fruits showed higher levels of vitamin C and total acids. Citric acid and arginine treatments prevented the reduction of organic acids and titratable acid by reducing respiration and the speed of cell metabolic processes. Also treated fruits had a significant decrease in Ph, TSS, Electrolyte leakage and Malondialdehyde compared to the control. In general, the use of arginine and citric acid can be considered as a useful method to increase the tolerance of pomegranate fruits to chilling injury through the accumulation of antioxidant compounds.

Keywords

Arginine

citric acid

chilling injury

malondialdehyde

pomegranate

Subjects