Thermal Conditioning of Areca Nuts: Reducing Chilling Injury through Hot Water Immersion

Abstract

Fresh areca nut is widely favored by
consumers in South and Southeast Asia. However,
postharvest areca nut perished quickly and was vulnerable
to chilling injury (CI) and lignification during traditional
cold storage. In order to alleviate this situation, hot water
treatment was applied to investigate its effect on CI and
lignification of fresh areca nut during cold storage at 13 °C.
Areca nuts were submersed in hot water at 45 °C (HW45)
and 50 °C (HW50) for short-term 5 min compared to fruit
submersed in water at 20 °C (CT), then stored at 13 °C with
90% humidity for 60 days. CI, malondialdehyde (MDA),
elec- trolyte leakage (EL), lignin and total phenolic content,
related enzymes including phenylalanine ammonia-lyase
(PAL), cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) and peroxidase activity (POD) were examined. Results indicated
that two HW treatments both induced chillin