Glutathione-Ascorbate cycle and lipid peroxidation in fruit of sweet cherry landraces of Campania region (Italy). XIV FISV CONGRESS Book of abstracts, Rome (Italy).

Fresh fruits are living organs that continue their metabolism even after harvest. The advanced stages of ripening culminate into the senescence process, that eventually leads to the death of fruit. Several works highlight the importance of antioxidant metabolism in relation to the fruit quality and shelf-life: fruit ripening is accompanied by a progressive increase in oxidative stress that is controlled by a related induction of the antioxidant scavenging systems. Dysfunctioning of such systems in the later stages of ripening causes an increase of oxidation, that is among the most important factors of fruit decay, favouring also parasite attack and development. High antioxidant metabolite levels, in fact, could delay senescence and preserve nutritional and nutraceutical characteristics, significantly reducing fruit loss and cost. Sweet cherries fruits are excellent sources of phytochemicals: nutraceuticals and antioxidants. It has been demonstrated that the eating of cherries reduces the risk of cancer and the joint pains, and protects from cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this work was to characterize glutathione-ascorbate cycle as well as lipid peroxidation in mature fruits of the sweet cherry germoplasm of Campania region and their involvment in post harvest storage. Fruits from cherry landraces of Campania region were collected at commercial maturity and used for the analyses. Glutathione as ascorbate contents differed among the landraces as welle as glutathione reductase. Differences were also found in the lipid peroxidation activities using the MDA test. . the data of glutathione level and redox state and gluthione peroxidase, ascorbate level and redox state as ascorbate peroxidase activities, tocophrols and polyphenols, two groups of landraces have been evidenced. The first showed high polyphenol oxidases activities, that could indicate a higher risk of developing oxidative stress and, consequently, a higher susceptibility to the oxidative degradation during shelf-life. The second showed high ascorbic acid and tocopherols contents, and low polyphenol oxidase activities. The high metabolites concentration could reduce the risk of oxidative damages during storage, therefore they could show a longer shelf-life than the other tested fruits. These characteristics were probably due to endogenous characteristics, making these landraces particularly interesting for breeding programs aimed to improve sweet cherry shelflife, highlighting also the value of genetic heritage of sweet cherry of Campania region.