Screening Of Antifungal And Fresh-keeping Activity Of39Botanical Extracts On Tomatoes And Apples

China has a large population and a great output in fruit. postharvest fruits and vegetablesfresh-keeping technology and facilities in our country exist widely gaps compared withdeveloped countries. So, we should enhance basic research of fresh-keeping technology.Botanical preservatives have a variety of advantages, such as safty, low-toxicity and easy touse, which chemical preservative doesnot. With the change of healthy concept, botanicalpreservatives are recognized as a main direction and hot topic of the developing ofpreservative. Searching for certain preservative which is no pollution to circumstance and notoxic for creatures is becoming a trend. Due to the abundance of plants resource, China has abright future in development and applications of fruits preservatives. In this paper, thefresh-keeping activities of39plant extracts on postharvest tomatoes and apples wereconducted by spraying method, in order to develop and offer the guidance for developing newbotanical preservativation.The results are presented as follows:The fresh-keeping activities of35plant extracts （1mg DW mL-1） were determinedagainst tomatoes with sensory index （unrotted rate and weight-loss rate） as standard. Theresults showed that litsea cubeba, sweet wormwood, pomelo peel, mugwort, cinnamon, lotusleafs and semen brassicae extracts showed high fresh-keeping activity to tomatoes. Theunrotted rates of tomatoes treated by the seven treatments were above72.0%on28th day, andthe weightless rates were below8.0%on16th day. On this basis, the fresh-keeping activitiesof7plant extracts were measured based on sensory index （unrotted rate and weight-loss rate）,quality index （firmness, SSC, TA, Vc）, activity of protective enzyme （CAT and POD） andmembrane permeability （relative conductivity）. The results showed that pomelo peel, litseacubeba and lotus leafs showed high fresh-keeping activity to tomatoes. The treatments couldkeep better quality of tomatoes than CK （clear water treatment） significantly, showing notsignificantly difference with1-MCP （0.5μL L-1）. Relative conductivity of pomelo peel, litseacubeba and lotus leafs treatments were below73.0%, CAT activities were90.10、97.30、92.03U·（g·min）^-1respectively, and POD activities were more than three times than CK. Theoptimum concentrations of pomelo peel, litsea cubeba and lotus leafs extracts were determined ranged0.25⁴mg DW mL-1against tomatoes. The results showed that treatmentsof2mg DW·mL-1pomelo peel,2mg DW·mL-1litsea cubeba and1mg DW·mL-1lotus leafsextracts showed high fresh-keeping activity than others to tomatoes. They reduced theweight-loss rate and the number of rotted tomatoes significantly, slowed down the decrease inthe flesh firmness, flavor and Vc, increased SOD, CAT and POD activity and restrained theincrease of PPO activity and relative electric conductivity, showing equivalent activities to1-MCP. The fresh-keeping activities of pomelo peel, litsea cubeba and lotus leafs extracts inoptimum concentration were determined against apples. The result showed that the threetreatments showed lower fresh-keeping activity than1-MCP.2. The fresh-keeping activities of39plant extracts （1mg DW mL-1） were determinedagainst apples with sensory index （unrotted rate and weight-loss rate） as standard. The resultsshowed that virgate wormwood herb，pricklyash peel, common anemarrhena rhizome,densefruit pittany root-bark, cassia bark, Chinese star anise extracts showed highfresh-keeping activity to apples. The unrotted rates of tomatoes treated by the six treatmentswere above61.0%on180thday, and the weightless rates were below2.5%on120day. On thisbasis, the fresh-keeping activities of6plant extracts were measured based on sensory index（unrotted rate and weight-loss rate）, quality index （firmness, SSC, TA, Vc）, activity ofprotective enzyme （CAT and POD） and membrane permeability（relative conductivity）. Theresults showed that virgate wormwood herb, common anemarrhena rhizome and pricklyashpeel extracts showed high fresh-keeping activity to apples. The treatments could keep betterquality of apples than CK （clear water treatment） significantly, showing not significantlydifference with1-MCP （0.5μL L-1）. Relative conductivity of common anemarrhena rhizometreatments were70.43%, lower than CK （81.48%） significantly, and showed no significantlydifference to1-MCP （68.45%）. CAT activities of virgate wormwood herb, commonanemarrhena rhizome and pricklyash peel extracts were29.87,29.82,28.77U·（g·min）^-1respectively, higher than CK significantly, showing not significantly difference with1-MCP（0.5μL L-1）. POD activities of virgate wormwood herb, common anemarrhena rhizome andpricklyash peel extracts were1.00、0.99、1.01U·（g·min）^-1, higher than CK (0.4U （g·min）^-1)significantly, showing not significantly difference with1-MCP (1.06U （g min）^-1).