Exploring the Impact of Citric Acid on Mitigating Sweet Potato Soft Rot and Enhancing Postharvest Quality

IF 4.5 2区农林科学 Q1 AGRONOMY

Agriculture-Basel Pub Date : 2025-01-19 DOI:10.3390/agriculture15020215

Yixi Chen, Linjiang Pang, Jiacheng Bai, Wenbao Yu, Yueming Zhu, Melvin Sidikie George, Zunfu Lv, Guoquan Lu

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Citric acid (CAC) is a ubiquitous, odorless, and non-toxic food additive. Soft rot, caused by the pathogen Rhizopus stolonifer, is a major postharvest disease affecting sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam). The main theme of this study is to determine the CAC inhibitory mechanism against Rhizopus stolonifer, the causative agent of sweet potato soft rot. To ascertain the practical applicability of CAC, both in vitro and in vivo methodologies were employed. The aim of the in vitro experiments in this study was to delineate the effects of a 0.5% (w/v) CAC solution on the growth inhibition of Rhizopus stolonifer, encompassing mycelial morphology and colony expansion. In vivo experiments were carried out using “Xinxiang” sweet potato varieties and the application of a 0.5% (w/v) CAC solution as a pretreatment. Specifically, the tissue treated with 0.5% CAC maintained better appearance quality and texture characteristics; peroxidase, β-1,3-glucanase, chitinase, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activities were enhanced. Conversely, the same treatment resulted in a downregulation of polyphenol oxidase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, cellulase, and polygalactosidase activities. Moreover, CAC treatment was found to maintain elevated levels of total phenolics and flavonoids within the sweet potato tissues. In summary, the study demonstrates that 0.5% CAC fortifies the resistance of sweet potato to soft rot by activating defense-related enzymes, suppressing the activity of cell wall-degrading enzymes, and promoting the accumulation of antimicrobial compounds. These results advocate for the utilization of CAC as a postharvest treatment to mitigate the incidence of sweet potato soft rot.

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柠檬酸防治甘薯软腐病和提高采后品质的研究

柠檬酸（CAC）是一种普遍存在的、无味、无毒的食品添加剂。软腐病是甘薯的主要采后病害，是由匍匐茎霉（Rhizopus stolonifer）引起的。Lam)。本研究的主要主题是确定CAC对甘薯软腐病病原匍匐茎霉的抑制机制。为了确定CAC的实际适用性，采用了体外和体内两种方法。本研究的体外实验目的是描述0.5% (w/v) CAC溶液对匍匐茎根霉生长的抑制作用，包括菌丝形态和菌落扩张。以“新乡”甘薯品种为研究对象，采用0.5% （w/v）的CAC溶液进行体内预处理。具体来说，0.5% CAC处理的组织保持了更好的外观质量和纹理特征；过氧化物酶、β-1,3-葡聚糖酶、几丁质酶和苯丙氨酸解氨酶活性增强。相反，同样的处理导致多酚氧化酶、过氧化氢酶、抗坏血酸过氧化物酶、纤维素酶和多半乳糖苷酶活性下调。此外，发现CAC处理可以维持甘薯组织中总酚类物质和类黄酮含量的升高。综上所述，本研究表明，0.5% CAC通过激活防御相关酶，抑制细胞壁降解酶的活性，促进抗菌化合物的积累，增强了甘薯对软腐病的抗性。这些结果支持利用CAC作为采后处理来减少甘薯软腐病的发生。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Agriculture-Basel Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Food Science

CiteScore

4.90

自引率

13.90%

发文量

1793

审稿时长

11 weeks

期刊介绍： Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472) is an international and cross-disciplinary scholarly and scientific open access journal on the science of cultivating the soil, growing, harvesting crops, and raising livestock. We will aim to look at production, processing, marketing and use of foods, fibers, plants and animals. The journal Agriculturewill publish reviews, regular research papers, communications and short notes, and there is no restriction on the length of the papers. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical research in as much detail as possible. Full experimental and/or methodical details must be provided for research articles.