Abstract:

Harvested kiwifruit（Actinidia chinensis‘Huayou’）were dipped in 5 mmol · L^-1 oxalic acid（OA）solution for 10 min at room temperature then stored at（0 ± 0.5）℃（90%–95% RH）for 90 days. The results indicated thatpre-storage application of OA marked lyalleviated chilling injury development and membrane damage，maintained higher firmness and titratable acidlevel. Moreover，OA significantly increased activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase（SOD）and catalase（CAT）；maintained higher contents of ascorbic acid（AsA）and glutathione（GSH）；decreased levels of superoxide anion production rate and hydrogen peroxide（H₂O₂）content；and kept higher ATP level and energy charge in the fruits during cold storage. These results suggested that pre-storage application of OA contributed to maintaining fruit quality and improving chilling tolerance in the fruits might attribute to enhanced antioxidant capacity and maintained higher levels of ATP and energy status.

Key words: kiwifruit, oxalic acid, chilling injury, antioxidant capacity, energy charge