Abstract

In this study, the mechanism recruited by exogenous melatonin application at 100 μM for alleviating chilling injury in tomato fruits during cold storage was investigated. Alleviating chilling injury in tomato fruits in response to exogenous melatonin application at 100 μM may ascribe to providing sufficient intracellular ATP occur by higher HATPase, Ca-ATPase, cytochrome c oxidase (CCO), and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) enzymes activity during cold storage. Also, higher unsaturated/saturated fatty acids (unSFA/SFA) ratio owing to higher linoleic and linolenic acids accumulation coincides with lower palmitic, stearic and oleic acids accumulation may be responsible for alleviating chilling injury in tomato fruits in response to exogenous melatonin application at 100 μM, which may occur by higher fatty acid desaturase 3 and 7 (FAD3 and FAD7) genes expression accompanying by lower phospholipase D (PLD) and lipoxygenase (LOX) genes expression and enzymes activity, in addition to providing sufficient intracellular ATP. Therefore, exogenous melatonin application may be a beneficial postharvest procedure for alleviating chilling injury in tomato fruits during cold storage