Effect of Salicylic Acid and Glycine Betaine on Postharvest Gray Mold Diseases and Chilling Injury of "Wonderful" Pomegranate Fruit

The effect of glycine betaine (GB) and salicylic acid (SA) under different concentrations on chilling injury and gray mold (Botrytis cinerea, Pers.: Fr.) disease as well as weight loss, color, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, vitamin C, anthocyanin and enzyme activities of pomegranate cv. Wonderful fruits were investigated during 2018 and 2019 growing seasons. Obtained results indicate that chilling injury and gray mold disease were reduced significantly (p˂0.05) when treated with glycine betaine (40 mM, treatment T7) followed by salicylic acid (4 mM, treatment T4) compared to control treatment (T1). Electrolyte leakage (EL) and MDA content which indicates the membrane permeability and integrity of fungal-artificially inoculated Wonderful pomegranate fruits were evaluated. One-way ANOVAs indicated that the most effective treatment in decreasing EL and MDA was the treatment T7 followed by T4. Therefore, GB and SA treatments could maintain normal cell membrane structure and function through down-regulating MDA content and up-regulating peroxidase enzyme activity to alleviate chilling injury and gray mold disease in pomegranate cv. Wonderful fruits.