The association between the susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea and the levels of volatile and non-volatile metabolites in red ripe strawberry genotypes.

The relations between physical and chemical characteristics (e.g., color, firmness, volatile and non-volatile metabolites) of red ripe strawberry fruit and the natural spoilage caused by Botrytis cinerea were investigated. The spoilage rates differed between genotypes, and this was highly correlated over two successive years. Among seventeen genotypes, a more intense red coloration of the fruit skin was associated with a lower spoilage rate (r = -0.63). Additionally, weakly negative correlations were found between the levels of anthocyanins, ascorbic acid, malic acid and spoilage rates. No clear correlations were found between spoilage rates and soluble sugars, most volatiles, firmness and dry weight percentage. High levels of two volatile compounds, ethyl butanoate (r = 0.55) and 1-hexanol (r = 0.61), were correlated to high spoilage rates. These characteristics may assist strawberry breeders in selecting for genotypes with reduced susceptibility to B. cinerea.

High light intensity at End-Of-Production improves the nutritional value of basil but does not affect postharvest chilling tolerance.

Basil suffers from chilling injury (CI) when stored at temperatures below 10-12 °C which seems related to the imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidants. We hypothesized that increased light intensity applied shortly before harvest (EOP, End-Of-Production) increases nutritional value i.e. carbohydrates and antioxidants and could improve the chilling tolerance. Two basil cultivars were grown in a vertical farming set-up at a light intensity of 150 µmol m-2 s-1. During the last 5 days of growth, EOP light treatments ranging from 50 to 600 µmol m-2 s-1 were applied. After harvest the leaves were stored at 4 or 12 °C in darkness. Higher EOP light intensity increased the antioxidant (total ascorbic acid, rosmarinic acid) and carbohydrate contents at harvest. During storage antioxidants decreased more rapidly at 4 than at 12 °C. However, increased EOP light intensity did not alleviate chilling symptoms suggesting a minor role of antioxidants studied against chilling stress.