Effects of 1-Methylcyclopropene and Hexanal vapor treatments on ¹H NMR-Based metabolomic profiles of durian (Durio zibethinus L.)

Aidil Hakim Azhar; Mohd Sabri Pak Dek; Nurul Shazini Ramli; Yaya Rukayadi; Ahmed Mediani; Helmi Wasoh.

Durian (Durio zibethinus L.) is one of the most important seasonal crops in Malaysia which has high economic value due to high demand. The shelf-life of durian fruit is very short about 2-3 days after naturally dropped from the tree stored at ambient temperature. This affects the profitability of durian sellers. Cold storage could prolong the shelf-life of fruits. However, it requires high investment and also can reduce the quality of the fruits by altering the original taste as well as inducing cold or chilling injury to the fruit. Therefore, it is important to develop a new postharvest technique with lower cost and easier to apply which can prolong the shelf-life of durian fruit at ambient storage. 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and hexanal vapors treatments were reported to be able to improve the shelf-life in many tropical fruits. The effectiveness of these treatments on D24 durian was unclear. The effect of these treatments on metabolic profile of the edible flesh is unknown. The objectives of this study are to investigate the effectiveness of 1-MCP and hexanal treatments on D24 durian at ambient temperature and to determine the metabolic changes of the flesh due to the treatments. In this study, the freshly dropped fruit was treated with 0.048% 1-MCP and 100 ppm hexanal vapors for 16 hours and stored at ambient condition. The physical appearance was observed from day 0 to 5. The metabolites extracted from the flesh were subjected to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The results show that the treatments can prolong the shelf life of the fruit up to 5 days by delaying the husk dehiscence. The NMR analysis did not show significant metabolic changes in the flesh. In conclusion, the treatments could inhibit the metabolic changes in the husk but not significantly affect the flesh metabolic activity.

KEYWORDS: Durian; 1-methylcyclopropene; Hexanal vapors; Postharvest storage; NMR metabolomics



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