Trehalose regulates the quality and antioxidant capacity of cherry tomato during postharvest ripening

Trehalose has been extensively studied in the application of fruit preservation, but little has been reported in cherry tomato preservation. The present work investigated the effects of postharvest trehalose treatment on cherry tomato spoilage rate, antioxidant capacity, and fruit quality through the application of 0.5 and 1% (w/v) trehalose. Our results indicated that trehalose treatment could reduce rot from 44.5 to 18.5%, maintain the fruit flavour and quality, and delay the decrease in antioxidant content. At 15 d postharvest, the diphenyl-picryl hydrazide (DPPH) scavenging capacity, superoxide anion (·O2-) production, and malonaldehyde (MDA) content were 78.1%, 1.04 mmol.min-1.kg-1, and 0.8 μmol.kg-1 in cherry tomato treated with 0.5% (w/v) trehalose, respectively. Trehalose-treated fruits maintained higher antioxidant capacities as compared to the control. Moreover, trehalose treatment increased the activities of superoxidase dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and inhibited the activity of lipoxygenase (LOX). The expression of encoding antioxidant genes was generally upregulated under trehalose treatment. However, the expression of SlLOX gene was significantly lower during storage, at only one-tenth of the control at 9 d. In conclusion, trehalose treatment had positive effects on decreasing decay incidence by increasing antioxidant capacity in cherry tomato.