Variation of organic acids in Citrus maxima(Burm.) Merr. cv. Shatian Yu under room and low temperature storage

ObjectiveThe present study was conducted to study metabolism and variation of organic acid in Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr. cv. Shatian Yu during room and 4 ℃ temperature storage in a bid, in order to provide reference for maintaining fruit quality and storage methods selection during postharvest storage. MethodSeven organic acids in C. maxima(Burm.) Merr. cv. Shatian Yu, namely citric acid,malic acid,oxilic acid,tartaric acid,fumaric acid,succinic acid and aconitic acid, were determined via high performance liquid chromatography during 1-75 days of room and 4 ℃ tem-perature storage. ResultThe results showed that among 7 organic acids, citric acid content accounted for the highest proportion and followed by malic acid, contents of oxilic acid,tartaric acid and succinic acid were lower, contents of a-conitic acid and fumaric acid were trace amount. Under condition of room temperature storage,citric acid contents at early storage stage decreased slightly,began to rise after 15 days and decreased after 60 days. Vriation trend of succinic acid, aconitic acid and fumaric acid were almost the same with citric acid,but peak times were different. Different from citric acid, variation of malic acid content went up at early storage stage and decreased at late storage stage. Tartaric acid con-tent decreased slightly at early storage stage, increased later, and dropped after 60 days of storage. Under low temperature storage condition, variation of organic acid contents in C. maxima(Burm.) Merr. cv. Shatian Yu was in accordance with that under room temperature storage condition, yet contents of citric acid,oxalic acid and fumaric acid were lower than those under room temperature storage condition, malic acid and succinic acid contents were higher than those under room tempera-ture storage condition. ConclusionTemperature has relatively small effect on variation of organic acid contents in C. maxima (Burm.) Merr. cv. Shatian Yu during storage. Under room temperature storage condition, total organic acid contents main-tain at a relatively high level, and fruit quality goes through no obvious variation.