Role of calcium in quality and physiological function of fruits and vegetable

Research Project

Project/Area Number	61560040
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	園芸・造園学
Research Institution	Osaka Prefecture University
Principal Investigator	IWATA Takashi College of Agriculture, University of Osaka Prefecture, 農学部, 教授 (70007227)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	UEDA Yoshinori College of Agriculture, University of Osaka Prefecture, 農学部, 講師 (50081550) MINAMIDE Takahisa Faculty of Living Science, Kyoto Prefectural University, 生活科学部, 助教授 (60081551)
Project Period (FY)	1986 – 1987
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1988)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000) Fiscal Year 1987: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000) Fiscal Year 1986: ¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000)
Keywords	Calcium Chilling injury / fruit ripeng / Oxalic acid / Polygalacturonase / Pectin esterase / Persimmon / カキ / ペピーノ / 青果物 / 品質 / トマト / ペピーノ果実 / 富有柿 / バナナ / ホウレンソウ / カイワレダイコン / ウメ
Research Abstract	The tyoe of calcium(Ca) in fruits and vegetables was investigated in relation to nutritional value and physiological role in plants. The predomirant type of Ca varied among species as follows; water soluble Ca in persley,Japanese radish seedling, mume(Japanese apricot) fruit, cucumber, etc., oxalic acid bound-Ca in spinach etc.,and pectin or protein bound-Ca in strawberry,tomato,bean,etc. The forms of Ca changed after harvest. Immature tomato fruit,for example,contained pectin or protein bound-Ca mainly,while ripening fruit increased water soluble Ca,especially Ca ion content. When ^<45>CaCl_2 solution was administered in mature green tomatoes through peduncle,it was found that oxalic acid or phosphoric acid bound-Ca was metabolized to water soluble form during ripening. A part of Ca was bound with chloroplast and mitochondria. CaCl_2 applied to immature tomato fruit suppressed fruit cracking, ripening and ethylene production. Activities of polygalacturonase and pectinesterase were also inhibited. Chilling injury of kaki and pepino fruits was supposed to relate the increase of water soluble-Ca at low temperature.