postharvest application of salicylic acid enhanced antioxidant responses of peach cv. 'elberta' fruit during storage

Cold storage has been widely used to prolong postharvest life of horticultural crops. however, some fruit are sensitive to low temperature and develop physiological disorders with extended cold storage period. salicylic acid (sa) enhanced plant tolerance to low temperature during growth. moreover, sa treatment has been applied to reduce chilling induced disorders of postharvest horticultural crops. this study investigates the effect of salicylic acid (sa) on chilling injury (ci) and antioxidant responses in elberta peach fruit during cold storage. the effect of salicylic acid on physiological responses of elberta peach (prunus persica l.) fruit was investigated. the treatments used in this experiment are the control, 1 and 2 mm concentrations of salicylic acid. then, the fruits were stored at 0 degrees celsius and relative humidity of 95% for 25 days.  after 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days, fruits were removed from cold storage, transferred at 20 °c and then analyzed. the experimental design was implemented in the form of a completely randomized design. statistical analyses were performed using spss, with data analyzed by one-way anova and mean separations by duncan's new multiple-range test. according to the results of this research, sa at the concentrations of 1and 2 mm effectively reduced chilling injury of elberta peach fruit during 25 days storage at 0 °c, while sa at 2 mm showed the best effect.  sa treatment also reduced the lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide content of peach fruit for storage. results of physiological response in peach fruit showed that sa induced the activity of antioxidant enzymes including catalase and peroxidase. these results indicate that the elicitation of an antioxidant response in peach fruit by sa may be associated with chilling injury alleviation. moreover, application of sa maintained the peach quality by decrease of lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide content. so, the present study is the evidence that sa enhance peach fruit tolerance to cold stress and therefore results in improving the fruit quality.