Maintaining the postharvest nutritional quality of peach fruits by γ-Aminobutyric Acid

Abstract Fresh peaches are highly perishable and they deteriorate quickly during low temperature storage which results in losses in nutritional quality. To prevent these adverse effects, peach fruits were treated by dipping with γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA; 2, 4 and 6 mM) immediately after harvest and then stored at 1 °C for 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. Peach fruits treated with GABA exhibited higher flesh firmness and TSS. In addition, GABA treatments were effective in maintaining higher contents of healthpromoting molecules such as ascorbic acid, total phenols and flavonoids as well as DPPH scavenging capacity. These results suggest that GABA could have promising postharvest effect for maintaining quality and enhancing the health benefits of peach fruit consumption by increasing the antioxidant capacity.