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Pre-harvest Methyl Jasmonate Treatment Enhances Cauliflower Chemoprotective Attributes Without a Loss in Postharvest Quality

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Abstract

Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment can significantly increase glucosinolate (GS) concentrations in Brassica vegetables and potentially enhance anticancer bioactivity. Although MeJA treatment may promote ethylene biosynthesis, which can be detrimental to postharvest quality, there are no previous reports of its effect on cauliflower postharvest quality. To address this, cauliflower curds in field plots were sprayed with either 0.1 % Triton X-100 (control) or 500 μM MeJA solutions four days prior to harvest, then stored at 4 °C. Tissue subsamples were collected after 0, 10, 20, and 30 days of postharvest storage and assayed for visual color change, ethylene production, GS concentrations, and extract quinone reductase inductive activity. MeJA treatment increased curd GS concentrations of glucoraphanin, glucobrassicin, and neoglucobrassicin by 1.5, 2.4, and 4.6-fold over controls, respectively. MeJA treated cauliflower showed significantly higher quinone reductase activity, a biomarker for anticancer bioactivity, without reducing visual color and postharvest quality for 10 days at 4 °C storage.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1201 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Kang Mo Ku, Jeong-Hee Choi, Mosbah M. Kushad & John A. Juvik

  2. Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801-3838, USA

    Elizabeth H. Jeffery

  3. Korea Food Research Institute, Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea, 463-746

    Jeong-Hee Choi

Authors
  1. Kang Mo Ku
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  2. Jeong-Hee Choi
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  3. Mosbah M. Kushad
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  4. Elizabeth H. Jeffery
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  5. John A. Juvik
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John A. Juvik.

Additional information

Kang Mo Ku and Jeong-Hee Choi contributed equally to this work.

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Ku, K.M., Choi, JH., Kushad, M.M. et al. Pre-harvest Methyl Jasmonate Treatment Enhances Cauliflower Chemoprotective Attributes Without a Loss in Postharvest Quality. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 68, 113–117 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-013-0356-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-013-0356-y

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