Quality changes of pomegranate arils throughout shelf life affected by deficit irrigation and pre-processing storage

•Deficit irrigation and pomegranate storage affected quality of obtained arils.•Pomegranates grown under deficit had enhanced contents of most bioactive compounds.•Long cold storage before processing negatively affected arils quality.

This study investigated the influence of sustained deficit irrigation (SDI, 78% less water supply than the reference evapotranspiration, ET0) compared to a control (100% ET0) on the physicochemical and sensory qualities and health-promoting compounds of pomegranate arils stored for 14 days at 5 °C. Prior to processing, the fruits were stored for 0, 30, 60 or 90 days at 5 °C. The effect of the pre-processing storage duration was also examined. Physicochemical and sensory qualities were kept during the storage period. Arils from SDI fruit had lower punicalagin-α and ellagic acid losses than the control (13% vs 50%). However, the anthocyanin content decreased during the shelf-life (72%) regardless of the treatment. The ascorbic acid slight decreased. Arils from SDI experienced glucose/fructose ratio loss (19%) lower than that of the control (35%). In general, arils from SDI showed better quality and health attributes during the shelf-life than did the control samples.