Free Proline in Peel of Grapefruit and Resistance to Chilling Injury during Cold Storage1

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Peel samples of ‘Marsh’ grapefruit ( Citrus paradisi Macf.) from 2 separate chilling injury (CI) experiments conducted during the 1979–80 season were analyzed for proline. Proline levels were highest in the peel of grapefruit after the seasonal night temperatures reached their minimum and levels declined after night temperatures increased in the spring. The greatest resistance of grapefruit peel to CI during postharvest cold storage coincided with high proline concentrations. Peels of unexposed interior canopy fruit had higher proline contents and were also more resistant to CI than peels of exposed exterior canopy fruit. Proline accumulation may be a consequence of an environmental stress rather than a cause of hardening to the stress or a mechanism of resistance.