Zeitschrift für Ernährungsstörungen und Therapie

Abstrakt

Changes in pectinolytic enzyme activities & intra-flesh texture heterogeneity during fruit ripening- ten new apricot clones

Jamal Ayour

The softening of apricot fruit results from significant changes in the cell wall which occurs during maturation. These modifications are essentially the result of enzyme activity modifying the cell walls composition and are involved in the detachment of the cell wall, which promotes tissue extension and growth. In this work, the activities of important pectinolytic enzymes involved in the degradation of the cell wall, and consequently the loss of firmness, namely pectin methylesterase , polygalacturonase and β-Galactosidase, were monitored during two ripening stages  in 10 apricot clones. The overall results suggested that the maturation of the apricots was coordinated by the three pectinolytic enzyme activities, since PME, PG and β-Gal activities increased during ripening while fruit flesh firmness decreased. In addition, the results showed that apricot softening was more controlled by β-galactosidase and PME.