Abstract: The effects of 5 mmol ? L-1 oxalic acid（OA）solution on kiwifruit（Actinidia chinensis ‘Huayou’）lignification in during cold storage were investigated. The results showed that，OA treatment significantly reduced lignin content and total phenolics content. Meanwhile，OA inhibited the key enzymes involved in the lignin biosynthesis，including phenylalanine ammonia-lyase（PAL，EC 4. 1. 3. 5.），4-coumarate coenzyme A ligase（4-CL，EC 6. 2. 1. 12.），peroxidase（POD，EC 1. 11. 1. 7.）and polyphenol oxidase（PPO，EC 1.10.3.1.）activities. In addition，the research combined hand-cut samples and paraffin sections indicated that lignin accumulation of‘Huayou’kiwifruit mainly occurred in pulp tissue and vascular bundles；alleviation of fruit lignification via OA might be ascribed to subdued activities of the above four enzymes.

Key words: kiwifruit, oxalic acid, fruit, postharvest, lignification