Influence of CaCl2 on quality and gray mold rot in postharvest strawberry fruit

CaCl2 was selected to keep strawberry fresh. The influence of CaCl2 on postharvest quality and the inhibitory effect to gray mold rot during storage were studied.It was indicated that CaCl2 had the ability to maintain postharvest quality of strawberry. Especially, the strawberry fruit treated with 10% CaCl2 were freshest during the whole storage.CaCl2 could also inhibit the mycelial growth and spore germination of Botrytis cinerea, and reduce the incidence of gray mold rot in strawberry fruit significantly. Furthermore, the antibacterial effect of CaCl2 was positively correlated to its concentration. The content of defense-related substances in strawberry fruit was influenced by CaCl2 . On the first day of storage, strawberry fruit treated with 10% and 5% CaCl2 showed significantly higher lignin content and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity than the control, moreover, catalase (CAT) (6～12d) and peroxidase ( POD) (9～12d) activities were also significantly higher than the control. Therefore, CaCl2 can induce the accumulation of disease-related substances in postharvest strawberry and thus improve the defense capability for gray mold rot in strawberry fruit.