Salicylic acid and chitosan effects on fruit quality when applied to fresh strawberry or during different periods of cold storage

One of the biggest problems that threaten the production of strawberry in the world is the rapid damage and high rate of deterioration after harvest or during cold storage. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the possibility of decreasing the post-harvest damage percentages and increasing the fruit quality of Fragaria x ananassa cv. ‘Estavana’ after harvest immediately or during the cold storage period. The strawberry plants were dipped for 3 to 5 minutes at 25 °C in a solution of 10 L made from distilled water and containing salicylic acid (SA) at 0, 250, 500, and 1000 mg/L or chitosan (CHIT) at 0, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/L during the period of 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 16 days after harvesting. The results showed that the fruit firmness was notably decreased, and the loss and decay percentages were increased by increasing the period of storage, but it could be decreased by using SA or CHIT. Fruit content from soluble solids, total sugars and anthocyanin was significantly increased in the 16 days stored fruits treated with 500 mg/L SA or 50mg/L CHIT. Treating the fresh harvested without or with SA or CHIT increased the fruit content from vitamin C. The highest fruit content from titratable acidity was in the fresh harvested fruits compared with treated fruits with SA or CHIT.