The Effect of Postharvest Methyl Jasmonate Treatment on Ethylene Biosynthesis, Antioxidant Capacity and Shelf Life of Strawberry

Strawberry is one of the highly consumed fruits which are cultivated in wide areas of the world. The most important problem of the strawberry is low storability and high postharvest losses; hence, more than 50% of harvested fruit is lost in Iran. The purpose of this research was to investigate biochemical and shelf life reaction of Camarosa cultivar to different concentrations of methyl jasmonate. The investigation was performed in split plot experiments in a completely randomized design with three replications. The main factor included different concentrations of methyl jasmonate (8 and 12 μM /L), along with control (distilled water) and the sub-factor included different storage times (7, 14 and 21 days). The fruits were transferred to a cold storage with a temperature of 2 ± 0.5 °C, relative humidity of 90-95% and carbon dioxide content of 15% over the course of the research. Methyl jasmonate treatment improved antioxidant capacity and catalase enzyme activity of the treated fruits. The highest antioxidant capacity and catalase enzyme activity were observed at 12 μM/L. Ethylene biosynthesis was significantly affected by the storage time of the treated fruits; so that methyl jasmonate at 12 μM/L reduced the ethylene production. Also, fruit firmness was improved at 5 μM/L methyl jasmonate concentration. Based on the results, methyl jasmonate is potent to increase the strawberry marketability with minimal side effects and, hence, may be chosen for decreasing the postharvest losses of strawberry fruit.