Investigation on quantitative index of chilling injury in cucumber fruit based on the electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde content

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the quantitative index of CI in cucumber fruit based on electrolyte leakage and MDA content. The results show that a rapid increase in electrolyte leakage was observed after 4 days storage at 5°C; while of fruit stored at 20°C was maintained at the same level. On other hand, significant difference in MDA equivalent was not found between cucumber fruit stored at 5°C and 20°C; nevertheless, the MDA equivalent of fruit stored at 5 °C was higher than that of stored at 20°C. Since the electrolyte leakage and MDA equivalent are related with oxidative stress which they increased in response to storage at low-temperature, thus they can be used as an indicator of cell membrane damage caused by CI in cucumber fruit.