Effect of Methyl Jasmonate on Reducing Chilling Injury and Maintaining the Quality of Nectarine (Prunus persica cv. Red Gold) Fruits

Chilling injury decreases the storage life of nectarines at low temperatures. Then enhancement of nectarin fruit resistance to chilling injury will increasese the possibility of it’s storage at low temperatures. In this research, the effect of methyl jasmonate at 0, 8 and 16 μl L-1 on chilling injury and fruit quality of nectarin during storage at 0±0.5°C with 90-95% relative humidity for 42 days was studied. Fruit quality attributes including chilling injury index, ion leakage, vitamin C content, weight loss, polyphenol oxidase activity, total soluble solids content and pH were evaluated during and at the end of storage period. The results showed that methyl jasmonate treatment significantly decreased the chilling injury, ion leakage, polyphenol oxidase activity and weight loss and retained fruit vitamin C. The highest rate of chilling injury, ion leakage and polyphenol oxidase activity was recorded in control fruits and the lowest rate of these indices was recorded in fruits treated with 16 μl L-1 methyl jasmonate. There was no significant differences between control and methyl jasmonate treated fruits in total soluble solids (TSS) content and pH. The results of this study indicated the positive effects of methyl jasmonate in reducing 'Red Gold' nectarine fruit chilling injury and maintaining fruit quality in low-temperature storage.