Question

what are the metabolic compounds and aroma volatiles responsible for mango fruit quality? what role does ethylene gas play in mango fruit ripining?

Answer 1

Metabolic compounds responsible for mango fruit quality: Sucrose, fructose and glucose, citric and malic acids, potassium, magnesium and calcium, vitamin C, β-carotene, Polyphenols (Like mangiferin, catechins, quercetin, kaempferol) all these metabolic ingredients of mango responsible for its quality, growth rate, and self life.

Aroma volatiles responsible for mango fruit quality: Monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes are the most abundant class of compounds responsible for 70-90% of total volatiles . Along with them esters, aromatics, aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, fatty-acids, norisoprenoid and sulphur containing compounds also play role.

Role of ethylene gas play in mango fruit ripining: Ethylene is a olefin plant fruit-ripening hormone.When the unripe mango harvested and kept for natural ripening at that time ethylene is the key player for this process. Sadenosyl methionine (SAM) is converted to1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC-Precursor of ethylene) by ACC synthetase and then ACC converted to ethylene by ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE). Rate of ethylene production and respiration increased and reached to peak during this time, higher ethylene responsible for physical biochemical, organoleptic changes in mango. Mango ripening process is controlled by ethylene. It is autocatalytically synthesized in small amount before the initiation of ripening, which in turn triggers the entire array of changes during ripening. Thus, synthesized ethylene activates the crucial enzymes for ripening and inactivates the inhibitors present in unripe fruits.