Near-saturated relative humidity alleviates chilling injury in zucchini fruit through its regulation of antioxidant response and energy metabolism

To investigate the effect of relative humidity (RH) on chilling injury (CI), zucchini fruit were stored in cold rooms (4 +/- 0.4 degrees C) with different RHs (near-saturated RH [NSH] with 96-100% and normal RH with 72-76% served as control). Storage in NSH delayed weight loss and CI, maintained firmness and skin color. Higher antioxidant enzyme activities and greater scavenging capacities of free radicals were found in NSH-fruit than in the control fruit. The decrease of the unsaturated fatty acids was delayed in NSH-fruit due to lower activities of related membrane lipid degrading enzymes as compared to the control fruit. NSH-fruit also maintained higher activities of energy metabolism-associated enzymes than control fruit, leading to high levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Taken together, we attributed the alleviation of CI by NSH storage to its enhancement of antioxidant capacities and its effect on maintaining higher energy status in zucchini fruit.