Repairing ability and mechanism of methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid on mechanically damaged sweet cherries

Abstract Sweet cherries are susceptible to mechanical damages, resulting in difficulties in the process of the storage as well as transportation. In this study, drop the sweet cherry fruits at the height of 50 cm in the hypothetical situation, causing some possible mechanical damages, then soak the damaged sweet cherries in 0.15 mM methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and 0.5 mM salicylic acid (SA) for 10 min, respectively. The results showed that MeJA and SA treatment effectively ameliorated the mechanical injury of sweet cherries, as well as inhibited the increase of weight loss, the decrease of firmness and the accumulation of active oxygen species. Meanwhile, the increase of membrane lipid degradation-related enzyme activity was also inhibited. What's more, MeJA and SA maintained high levels of antioxidant contents, antioxidant enzyme activity, and higher capability of phenylpropanoid metabolism. Thus, MeJA and SA have the potential ability to maintain the quality of sweet cherries and reduce the loss caused by mechanical damages after the postharvest.