Pulses of low intensity light as promising technology to delay postharvest senescence of broccoli

BÁRCENA, ALEJANDRA; COSTA, LORENZA; BAHIMA, JOSÉ VERA; FAVRE, NOELIA; MARTÍNEZ, GUSTAVO; BÁRCENA, ALEJANDRA; COSTA, LORENZA; BAHIMA, JOSÉ VERA; FAVRE, NOELIA; MARTÍNEZ, GUSTAVO

POSTHARVEST BIOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2018 p. 107 - 114

0925-5214

Visible light irradiance may be a useful technology to delay postharvest senescence of green vegetables. In this work, we studied the effects of low-intensity white, red and far red light pulses on postharvest senescence of broccoli stored in the dark at 20°C. Daily exposure for 2h to 20-25μmolm-2 s-1 of white light delayed yellowing and retained chloroplast components (chlorophyll and soluble proteins). The utilized light intensity was insufficient to re-initiated photosynthesis since total sugar content was lower than initials in irradiated florets. Light treatment resulted in a slower loss of sugars in comparison with the untreated samples, but was not affected by light quality. The effects of red light treatment on chlorophyll a and soluble protein degradation were similar to white light, and opposite to far red light. However, these treatments did not delay chlorophyll b degradation, suggesting that phytochromes could be involved in molecular mechanism of chlorophyll a and soluble protein degradation, but not of chlorophyll b.