Acidic electrolyzed water treatment delays the senescence of ‘Lingwu long’ jujube fruit during cold storage by regulating energy and respiratory metabolism

Jujube fruit may rapidly undergo maturity and senescence during storage, seriously affecting its commercialization. The study aimed to evaluate the role of acidic electrolyzed water (AEW) on energy and respiratory metabolism, and senescence in jujube fruit during cold storage. The results indicated that AEW improved ATP content and energy charge via increasing succinate dehydrogenase, cytochrome C oxidase, H+-ATPase, and Ca2+-ATPase activities and delayed jujube fruit senescence. The treatment was found to improve the activities of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide kinase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and the content of NADPH, and reduce oxidative stress. Transcriptome analysis suggested that AEW regulated the expression of the genes associated with glycolysis, citrate cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, oxidative phosphorylation, ROS metabolism, transcription factors, phenylpropane biosynthesis, cell wall metabolism, and plant hormone signal transduction. Therefore, we concluded that AEW may delay the senescence of postharvest jujube fruit by regulating expression of the relevant genes and metabolic pathways.