Metabolic mechanism of nitrogen modified atmosphere storage on delaying quality deterioration of rice grains

Nitrogen modified atmosphere was an effective way to control pest infestation in grains. In this study, the quality changes of rice during nitrogen modified atmosphere packaging storage (N₂-MAPS) were monitored. An un-targeted metabolomics method was used to detect the rice metabolites and explore the mechanism of N₂-MAPS for delaying rice deterioration. In this study, two rice species were studied under N₂-MAPS and conventional storage at 30 °C for 150 days. The quality changes of rice during storage were monitored. The results showed that N₂-MAPS could retard the increase of fatty acid value and amylose content, and defer the decrease of enzyme activities. And N₂-MAPS had no significant influence on texture characteristics of rice. The metabolomics results suggested some metabolites and pathways were affected by N₂-MAPS and revealed that N₂-MAPS could protect rice cells from oxidative damage, maintain cell integrity and stability by regulating the metabolism to delay the rice deterioration.