محمد باقر حسن پور اقدم

Temperature is the dominant environmental stimuli that influence the postharvest quality, vis-ual appearance, and nutritional’s content of fruits. Temperature by the impact on respiration rate and the acceleration of metabolic reactions hastens the fruit ripening and senescence. This study was conducted to select the optimized temperature for keeping the quality-related traits and an-tioxidant potential of cornelian cherry fruits after harvest. The fruits were treated with 1% chi-tosan, then after were kept under 0,5,10 and 210C for 21 days. The results revealed that fruits kept under lower than room temperature (21°C) were more capable to hold the antioxidant capacity, had higher phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and even more antioxidant enzymes activity, and, hence attained prolonged postharvest life. 0 0C was the temperature of choice considering the quantity attributes as well as the shelf life. Zero temperature was also the best to keep the antioxidant capacity of cornelian cherry fruits. Overall, the results showed that low temperature along with chitosan pretreatment provides an efficient method for maintaining nutritional qual-ity and antioxidant capacity of cornelian cherry fruits during storage time.