Enhancement of storage quality and antioxidant capacity of harvested sweet cherry fruit by immersion with β-aminobutyric acid

• BABA immersion improves the organoleptic and nutritive qualities.
• BABA treatment inhibited the decrease of chlorophyll contents of fruit peduncles.
• Antioxidant capacities in sweet cherries were enhanced by BABA immersion treatment.
• BABA-treated fruit had higher enzyme activities of SOD, CAT, APX and GR.

Freshly harvested sweet cherry fruit were immersed with 30 mmol L−1 β-aminobutyric acid (BABA) for 10 min and then stored at 20 °C for 5 d to investigate the effect of BABA on quality and antioxidant activity. The results showed that BABA-treated cherries had lower respiration rates and weight loss and higher levels of titratable acidity, total phenolics, ascorbic acid, fructose, glucose, sucrose, malic, citric and succinic acids compared with that in control fruit. BABA treatment inhibited the decrease of L* value of fruit pericarp and chlorophyll contents of fruit peduncles. BABA enhanced the antioxidant enzyme activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR) throughout the storage period. In addition, BABA-treated fruit exhibited higher levels of antioxidant activity as measured by the scavenging capacity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide and hydroxyl radicals, and by the reducing power test compared to the control. These results indicate that postharvest application of BABA immersion can improve the organoleptic and nutritive qualities and enhance the antioxidant capacity of harvested sweet cherry fruit.