Abstract
Enzymatic browning is the main quality issue of fresh-cut foods. This study investigated the effects of different concentrations (0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 mM) of melatonin (MT) treatment on the enzymatic browning of four fresh-cut foods, including apples (Malus domestica), pears (Pyrus spp.), potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), and taros (Colocasia esculenta), and found that only 0.05 mM MT was most significant at enhancing the L* values and reducing the browning index (BI) in all four foods. This suggests that 0.05 mM MT might be a universal concentration for the browning alleviation of fresh-cut foods. MT treatment increased the total phenolic contents and PAL activities but reduced the activities of POD, PPO, and LOX in fresh-cut taros. Furthermore, MT significantly affected the expression of sixteen browning-related genes in fresh-cut taros during storage. These results suggest that MT reduced fresh-cut food browning by regulating the activities of browning-related enzymes. However, MT did not significantly influence the browning degree or PPO activity of the taro mash in vitro, suggesting that MT might regulate enzyme activity in an indirect manner. Overall, these results indicate that MT might be a promising anti-browning agent to alleviate the browning of fresh-cut foods. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Melatonin (MT) is an endogenously produced indoleamine. Previous studies have reported that MT displays protective activities in many agricultural products. However, the reported protective MT concentrations vary between different products. To extend this agent to the fresh-cut industry, it is necessary to determine the universal dosage of MT needed for application efficiency. In this study, the effects of three concentrations (0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 mM) of MT on four fresh-cut foods, including apples, pears, potatoes, and taros, were investigated. The results showed that MT treatment alleviated browning development in the slices of these four foods and that 0.05 mM MT was the most effective treatment. Moreover, 0.05 mM MT significantly affected the activities of browning-related enzymes. These results suggest that 0.05 mM MT is a universal dosage for reducing surface browning in fresh-cut foods. This study provides a foundation for the application of MT in the processing of fresh-cut foods, especially fresh-cut taros.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin at 0.05 mM most effectively reduced the browning index of fresh-cut apples.
- Taxon
- apples
Malus domesticae0 - Treatment
- 0.05 mM MTe1
- Outcome
- browning indexe1
- Direction
- reducinge1
- Qualifier
- enhancing the L* valuese1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apples (Malus domestica), pears (Pyrus spp.), potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), and taros (Colocasia esculenta)”
e1“only 0.05 mM MT was most significant at enhancing the L* values and reducing the browning index (BI) in all four foods”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin at 0.05 mM most effectively reduced the browning index of fresh-cut pears.
PyrusNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apples (Malus domestica), pears (Pyrus spp.), potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), and taros (Colocasia esculenta)”
e1“only 0.05 mM MT was most significant at enhancing the L* values and reducing the browning index (BI) in all four foods”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin at 0.05 mM most effectively reduced the browning index of fresh-cut potatoes.
- Taxon
- potatoes
Solanum tuberosume0 - Treatment
- 0.05 mM MTe1
- Outcome
- browning indexe1
- Direction
- reducinge1
- Qualifier
- enhancing the L* valuese1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apples (Malus domestica), pears (Pyrus spp.), potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), and taros (Colocasia esculenta)”
e1“only 0.05 mM MT was most significant at enhancing the L* values and reducing the browning index (BI) in all four foods”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin at 0.05 mM most effectively reduced the browning index of fresh-cut taros.
- Taxon
- taros
_Colocasia_esculenta_-_Les_Martels%2C_Giroussens_Tarn.jpg?width=60)
Colocasia esculentae0 - Treatment
- 0.05 mM MTe1
- Outcome
- browning indexe1
- Direction
- reducinge1
- Qualifier
- enhancing the L* valuese1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_Colocasia_esculenta_-_Les_Martels%2C_Giroussens_Tarn.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“apples (Malus domestica), pears (Pyrus spp.), potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), and taros (Colocasia esculenta)”
e1“only 0.05 mM MT was most significant at enhancing the L* values and reducing the browning index (BI) in all four foods”
Claim · model-written summary
MT treatment increased total phenolic contents and PAL activities in fresh-cut taros.
- Taxon
- tarosColocasia esculentae2
- Treatment
- MT treatmente2
- Outcome
- total phenolic contents and PAL activitiese2
- Direction
- increasede2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e2“MT treatment increased the total phenolic contents and PAL activities but reduced the activities of POD, PPO, and LOX in fresh-cut taros”
Claim · model-written summary
MT treatment reduced the activities of POD, PPO and LOX in fresh-cut taros.
- Taxon
- tarosColocasia esculentae2
- Treatment
- MT treatmente2
- Outcome
- activities of POD, PPO, and LOXe2
- Direction
- reducede2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e2“MT treatment increased the total phenolic contents and PAL activities but reduced the activities of POD, PPO, and LOX in fresh-cut taros”
Claim · model-written summary
MT significantly affected the expression of sixteen browning-related genes in fresh-cut taros during storage.
- Taxon
- tarosColocasia esculentae3
- Treatment
- MTe3
- Gene
- browning-related genese3
- Outcome
- expression of sixteen browning-related genese3
- Value
- sixteene3
- Qualifier
- during storagee3
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e3“MT significantly affected the expression of sixteen browning-related genes in fresh-cut taros during storage”
Claim · model-written summary
MT did not significantly influence the browning degree or PPO activity of taro mash in vitro.
- Taxon
- taroColocasia esculentae4
- Treatment
- MTe4
- Outcome
- browning degree or PPO activitye4
- Direction
- no_changeinferrede4
- Setting
- in vitroe4
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“MT did not significantly influence the browning degree or PPO activity of the taro mash in vitro”
Claim · model-written summary
0.05 mM MT may be a universal concentration for alleviating browning of fresh-cut foods.
Verbatim
e5“0.05 mM MT might be a universal concentration for the browning alleviation of fresh-cut foods”
Claim · model-written summary
MT reduces fresh-cut food browning by regulating the activities of browning-related enzymes.
Verbatim
e6“MT reduced fresh-cut food browning by regulating the activities of browning-related enzymes”
The same questions in other papers
melatonin · disease · Malus domestica (apple)Results agree
3 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
melatonin · disease · Solanum tuberosum (potato)Results agree
4 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.