Scopoletin Involvement in Post-Harvest Physiological Deterioration of Cassava Root (Manihot esculentaCrantz)

A study of the mechanism of the rapid deterioration of cassava roots has shown that this requires the presence of oxygen and scopoletin, the latter acting, apparently, in some autocatalytic fashion. Roots from plants whose tops were pruned off some days prior to harvest were less liable to spontaneous deterioration, but responded vigorously to the applied scopoletin, whereas roots stored for some time in the absence of O2, so-called ‘cured’ roots were no longer susceptible to exogenously-applied scopoletin. Clearly, metabolically, the two methods for prevention of deterioration differ pruning may be effective due to internally-reduced scopoletin supply or absence of some factor involved in the primary oxidation; ‘curing’ may involve loss of a scopoletin precursor or inactivation of an enzyme system.