Mechanism of chilling tolerance induced by heat treatment in fruits and vegetables

Low temperature storage is the most effective and widely used postharvest technique in fruits and vegetables. But some fruits and vegetables which are sensitive to low temperature are easy to occur chilling injury symptoms in cold storage，causing heavy loss in postharvest fruits and vegetables. Heat treatment is a safe and efficient physical treatment，has been widely applied in the chilling tolerance of fruit and vegetables. At present，most studies focused on the effects of heat treatment on postharvest storage quality and postharvest physiological and biochemical characteristics in fruits and vegetables. However，the mechanism of chilling tolerance induced by heat treatment as well as the key signal pathway in fruits and vegetables is unclear. In this paper，the mechanism of chilling tolerance induced by heat treatment in fruits and vegetables was analyzed. Chilling tolerance induced by heat treatment in fruits and vegetables could be related to membrane integrity，ROS signaling，heat shock protein，arginine pathways and sugar metabolism. These factors have a common characteristic that，heat treatment induces enhancement of antioxidant enzyme system activity，maintains membrane integrity，thereby improves the cold resistance of fruits and vegetables