Abstract
Litchi is known for its delicious taste and reddish pericarp colour. However, pericarp browning limits the postharvest life of
litchi fruit with reduced fruit quality. Therefore, present study was conducted to investigate the influence of harvest location
(Lahore and Haripur) as well as cultivar (‘Gola’ and ‘Serai’) on pericarp browning, changes in the biochemical quality
attributes and enzymatic activities in litchi fruit. Fruit harvested from Lahore exhibited significantly higher pericarp
browning index (3.99), weight loss (12.7%), ascorbic acid contents (48.9 mg 100 g
-1) and activities of enzymes responsible
for browning (peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase) as compared to Haripur. Moreover, fruit harvested from Lahore exhibited
less SSC: TA ratio (105.3), total phenolic contents (187.35 mg GAE 100 g
-1), total antioxidants (45.27%) and activity of
superoxide dismutase enzyme (40.86 U mg-1 protein) than that of Haripur. On the other hand, ‘Serai’ fruit exhibited higher
weight loss (12.86%), SSC (19.58oBrix), TA (0.24%), activities of peroxidase (35.81 U mg-1 protein) and polyphenol oxidase
(25.22 U mg-1 protein) enzymes. Moreover, lower level of TPC (202.9 mg GAE 100 g
-1), total antioxidants (50.2%),
activities of superoxide dismutase (39.85 U mg-1 protein) and catalase (22.32 U mg-1 protein) enzymes were observed in
‘Serai’ than ‘Gola’ fruit. Results suggested that fruit harvested from Haripur exhibited better fruit quality characteristics and
browning index than fruit harvested from Lahore. Cultivar ‘Gola’ showed better quality with less pericarp browning than
‘Serai’.
