Preharvest application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) in two plum cultivars. 2. Improvement of fruit quality and antioxidant systems during postharvest storage

•‘Black Splendor’ plum behaves as suppressed climacteric plum cultivar.•The highest ethylene and respiration rate inhibition was obtained with preharvest MeJA at 0.5 mM.•2.0 mM MeJA accelerated ethylene production and postharvest ripening based on colour and firmness.•Phenolics and antioxidant activity were higher during storage in 0.5 mM MeJA-treated plums.•Antioxidant enzymes along storage showed higher activities in preharvest MeJA treated plums.

‘Black Splendor’ (BS) and ‘Royal Rosa’ (RR) plums were treated preharvest with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) at three concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mM) along the on-tree fruit development: 63, 77 and 98 days after full blossom (DAFB). Both control and treated fruit were harvested at the commercial ripening stage and stored in two temperature conditions: 9 days at 20 °C or at 2 °C + 1 day at 20 °C for 50 days. Preharvest MeJA at 2.0 mM significantly accelerated whereas 0.5 mM delayed the postharvest ripening process for both cultivars, since ethylene production, respiration rate and softening were reduced significantly at the two storage conditions for 0.5 mM. In these fruit, total phenolics, total antioxidant activity (hydrophilic fraction, HTAA) and the antioxidant enzymes peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) were found at higher levels in treated than control plums during postharvest storage, which could account for the delay of the postharvest ripening process and the extension of shelf-life.