Low temperature storage of citrus generally extends the storage potential but leads to chilling injury appearance on the rind of fruits. The said physiological disorder has been found associated with changes in the metabolism of cell walls and other attributes. In this work, the influence of
Arabic gum [AG (10 %)] and γ-amminobutyric
acid [
GABA (10 mmol L-1)] either alone or in combined form was studied on fruits of 'Kinnow' mandarin during storage at 5 ± 1 °C for 60 days. The results exhibited that the combined AG + GABA treatment significantly suppressed
weight loss (5.13 %), chilling injury (CI) symptoms (2.41 score), incidence of disease (13.33 %), respiration rate [(4.81 μmol kg-1 h-1) RPR] and
ethylene production [(0.86 nmol kg-1 h-1) EPR]. In addition, AG + GABA application reduced relative
electrolyte (37.89 %) leakage (REL),
malondialdehyde [(25.99 nmol kg-1) MDA],
superoxide anion [(15.23 nmol min-1 kg-1) O2•-] and
hydrogen peroxide [(27.08 nmol kg-1) H2O2] along with lower
lipoxygenase [(23.81 U mg-1
protein) LOX] and
phospholipase D [(14.07 U mg-1
protein)
PLD]
enzyme activities compared with control. The AG + GABA treated 'Kinnow' group showed higher
glutamate decarboxylase [(43.18 U mg-1
protein) GAD] and lower
GABA transaminase [(15.93 U mg-1
protein)
GABA-T] activity having higher endogenous
GABA (42.02 mg kg-1) content. The fruits treated with AG + GABA exhibited higher cell walls (CW) components such as Na2CO3-soluble
pectin [(6.55 g kg-1) NCSP], chelate-soluble
pectin [(7.13 g kg-1) CSP] and protopectin [(11.03 g kg-1) PRP] concentrations along with lower water-soluble
pectin [(10.64 g kg-1) WSP] compared to control. In addition, 'Kinnow' fruits treated with AG + GABA showed higher firmness (8.63 N) and lower activities of CW degrading such as
cellulase [(11.23 U mg-1
protein) CX],
polygalacturonase [(22.59 U mg-1
protein) PG],
pectin methylesterase [(15.61 U mg-1
protein) PME] and β-
galactosidase [(20.64 U mg-1
protein) β-Gal]
enzymes. The activity of
catalase [(41.56 U mg-1
protein) CAT],
ascorbate peroxidase [(55.57 U mg-1
protein) APX],
superoxide dismutase [(52.93 U mg-1
protein) SOD] and
peroxidase [(31.02 U mg-1
protein) POD] was also higher in combined treatment. In addition, AG + GABA treated fruits showed better biochemical and sensory attributes than the control. So, combined AG + GABA could be used for CI mitigation and storage
life prolongation of 'Kinnow' fruits.