Impaginato 83 Adv. Hort. Sci., 2024 38(1): 83­96 DOI: 10.36253/ahsc­14691 Efficacy of active and passive modified atmosphere packaging on quality preservation and storage life of pome­ granate fruit and arils: A review F. Moradinezhad 1 (*), A. Ranjbar 1 Department of Horticultural Science, College of Agriculture, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran. 2 Pistachio Research Center, Agriculture Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Horticultural Science Research Institute, Rafsanjan, Iran. Key words: Fruit quality, minimal processing, nutritional characteristics, post­ harvest, ready­to­eat pomegranate, storability. Abstract: Pomegranate has nutritional value and health benefits due to its bioactive compounds and antioxidant properties. Fruit consumption is strongly recommended due to its high content of vitamins, fiber, minerals, and polyphe­ nols. Supplying ready­to­eat pomegranate can be a beneficial technique to increase consumption with regard to its nutritional properties. However, main­ taining nutritional quality and preventing microbial spoilage is a major chal­ lenge. Fruit quality is lost with visible symptoms such as weight loss, shriveling, husk scald, chilling injury, fungal rot, aril color degradation, and off­flavor dur­ ing long­term storage. Therefore, it is very important to use appropriate strate­ gies to maintain pomegranate whole fruit and aril quality. Gases around the product create a suitable environment for oxidative reactions and aerobic microorganism growth. Therefore, changing the atmosphere around the prod­ uct can help maintain its quality. One of the effective methods to increase the postharvest life of products is to use modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), which reduces microbial spoilage and chilling injury, preserves the quality, and extends the shelf life by reducing the respiration rate. Modified atmosphere packaging, which uses natural atmospheric components (O2, CO2 and N2), has been widely accepted due to the lack of toxic residues on the product. This review discusses on recent research in terms of MAP application on quality properties and postharvest life of pomegranate fruit and arils during storage. 1. Introduction Regarding botanical classification, pomegranate belongs to the Angiospermae category, Dicotyledoneae subcategory, Myrtales order, Lythraceae family, Punica genus, and P. granatum species. P. granatum species is diploid (16x=2 n=2). It has four subspecies: plenty‐flora, spinisia, nana, and sativa. Edible pomegranate is in the subspecies of sativa (*) Corresponding author: fmoradinezhad@birjand.ac.ir Citation: MORADINEZHAD F., RANJBAR A., 2024 ­ Efficacy of active and passive modified atmosphere packaging on quality preservation and storage life of pomegranate fruit and arils: A review. ­ Adv. Hort. Sci., 38(1): 83­96. Copyright: © 2024 Moradinezhad F., Ranjbar A. This is an open access, peer reviewed article published by Firenze University Press (http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ahs/) and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Received for publication 8 May 2023 Accepted for publication 8 November 2023 AHS Advances in Horticultural Science Review paper https://doi.org/10.36253/ahsc-14691 http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ahs/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Adv. Hort. Sci., 2024 38(1): 83­96 84 (Jalikop, 2010). This fruit is mainly grown in Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and China. Among these countries, India, Iran, China, and Turkey are the main pomegranate producers (Ramezanian and Erkan, 2017). Pomegranate has many nutritional properties and bioactive compounds with anti­inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, antihypertensive, antidiabet­ ic and liver damage­reducing effects (Kalaycıoglu and Erim, 2017; Khajebishak et al., 2019; Sohrabet al., 2019; Barati Boldaji et al., 2020; Firdous et al., 2023). The pomegranate is considered a non­climacteric fruit, and is harvested at the optimal maturity stage for storage, which has optimal organoleptic charac­ teristics. The harvest index is the ratio of sugar to acid, and the standard index for harvesting is differ­ ent depending on the cultivar (Artés et al., 2000). Post­harvest quality loss due to weight loss, harden­ ing of the husk, cracking husk, chilling injury (CI) symptoms and fungal diseases limit its storage potential (Pareek et al., 2015; Porat et al., 2016; Ranjbari et al., 2018; Candir et al., 2019; Lufu et al., 2020) (Fig. 1). Moreover, ready­to­eat pomegranate aril is very perishable and rapidly lost its quality dur­ ing storage. The most important goal of the posthar­ vest industry is to maintain the quality during trans­ portation and storage (El­Ramady et al., 2015; Moradinezhad and Dorostkar, 2021). Reducing postharvest losses leads to more available food, reducing cultivated areas, and preserving natural resources. Therefore, it is necessary to use tech­ niques to maintain the fruit quality after harvest and during storage. Changing the atmosphere around the fruit through controlled atmosphere (CA) or modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is a reliable and safe approach (Caleb et al., 2012; Caleb et al., 2013 a, b). In MAP, the gas composition inside the package is obtained based on the gas exchange through the semi­permeable layer and fruit respiration rate (Caleb et al., 2018). Although the respiration rate of pomegranate fruit is slow in cold temperatures, how­ ever, during the respiration process, oxygen (O2) is consumed and dioxide carbon(CO2) is produced, which changes the composition of the gas inside the package (passive MAP). In addition to passive MAP, the initial modification of respiratory gases (active Fig. 1 ­ Chilling injury development in pomegranate cultivars stored at cold storage. A) The external appearance and weight loss of ‘Wonderful’pomegranate fruit after 4, 8, and 12 weeks of storage at 7°C, photo caption from left to right, respectively (Adetoro et al., 2020), B) The external and internal appearance of ‘Mengzi Sweet’ pomegranate fruit after 8 weeks of storage at 2°C (Chen et al., 2021), C) Husk scald and chilling injury in pomegranate ‘Wonderful’ fruit skin after 120 days of storage at 3.5°C (Maghoumi et al., 2022), D) Husk scald symptoms of ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate fruit after 12 weeks of storage at 7°C (Li et al., 2016), E) The internal appearance and discoloration of the texture of ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate fruit after two weeks of storage at 1°C (Kashash et al., 2019), F) Hard husk and shriveling symptoms of ‘Hicaznar’pomegranate fruit after 6 months of storage at 6°C (Candir et al., 2019). Moradinezhad and Ranjbar ‐ Efficacy of MAP on the shelf life of pomegranate fruit and arils 85 MAP) based on the physiology of the product, envi­ ronmental conditions and the properties of the pack­ aging materials has a significant effect in reducing respiratory activity and increasing the shelf life (Opara et al., 2015; Opara et al., 2017; Belay et al., 2018; Dorostkar and Moradinezhad, 2022). Despite the advantages of MAP, ultra­low or high concentrations of gases inside packages may cause damage to the texture. An excessive increase in O2 concentration increases the production of radicals that damage the cytoplasm, such as superoxide (O−2), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and hydroxyl (OH−), conse­ quently reducing the quality by inhibiting some meta­ bolic activities (Choudhury et al., 2017). The reduc­ tion of O2 below the critical limit causes the initiation of anaerobic respiration and fermentation, resulting in an unpleasant aroma and taste (Li et al., 2014). Also, excessive accumulation of CO2 can lead to a decrease in quality by accelerating color changes and increasing the hydrolysis of pectin compounds (Teixeira et al., 2016). With the increasing demand for MAP application, it is necessary to understand the role of gases and their effect mechanism on product quality. Therefore, a simplex lattice design approach was con­ sidered to select and identify the optimal gas compo­ sition to maximize the quality parameters of pome­ granate aril cv. Wonderful under modified atmos­ phere conditions (Belay et al., 2019 a). The partial pressure of gases as visual quality, physicochemical characteristics, antioxidant properties and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were selected as response variables. The results showed that CO2 was the most important factor affecting color, texture firmness and volatile organic compounds (aldehydes, ketones, monoterpenes) of the Wonderful cultivar (Li et al., 2018; Li et al., 2020). O2 had the greatest effect on color, organic acid, decay development and alco­ holic volatile organic compounds. The maximum con­ centration of sugars, organic acids, total soluble solids (TSS), and color using a gas mixture (6­7 kPa O2+ 7­8 kPa CO2),and the maximum release of volatile compounds responsible for the taste of arils was obtained using a gas mixture (2 kPa O2 + 18 kPa CO2 + 80 kPa N2) (Belay et al., 2019 a). Low O2 inhibits the rate of oxidation by reducing the rate of respiration and delaying fruit ripening (Li and Zhang, 2015; Teixeira et al., 2016). The concen­ tration of super atmospheric O2was effective in inhibiting microbial growth and reducing decay by preventing anaerobic respiration on minimally processed pomegranate arils (cv. Wonderful) (Belay et al., 2017 b). The qualitative changes of the fruit are related to the change of different metabolic path­ ways which are presented in the modified atmos­ phere by determining the genomic interpretation and their transcription frequency under the influence of packaging conditions (Rosales et al., 2016). The response of fruits to gas concentration is character­ ized by the profile of primary metabolite (respiration rate) and secondary metabolite (fermentative metabolites and volatile compounds) (Blanch et al., 2015). Despite the advantages of the modified atmos­ phere in increasing the shelf life of the product, reducing storage losses without preservatives appli­ cation, accurate control of storage temperature due to the effect of temperature on the permeability of used films, respiration rate, and solubility of gas in the aqueous phase of the food and the nutrient leak­ age, and determination of the specific gas composi­ tion for each product should be investigated. Considering the importance of the storage envi­ ronment, especially the concentration of O2 and CO2 in the occurrence of injury symptoms and the shelf life of products, this review aimed to investigate the efficacy of MAP on the overall quality of the whole pomegranate fruit and arils during cold storage. 2. Influence of MAP on quality traits of pomegran­ ate Chilling injury, weight loss, and overall quality One desirable approach to minimize weight loss in a modified atmosphere is to reduce respiratory activ­ ity, which substantially reduces transpiration (Belay et al., 2018). Therefore, in the MAP, it is recommend­ ed to choose the appropriate gas composition to con­ trol the weight loss of the product. In the investiga­ tion of the suitable gas composition to reduce the respiration rate, the concentration of O2 (2, 10 and 21 kPa) and CO2 (2, 10 and 20 kPa) on pomegranate arils cv. Hicaznar (Ersan et al., 2009), and the concen­ tration O2 (5, 21, and 30 kPa) and CO2 (0, 10, and 40 kPa) on the pomegranate arils cv. Wonderful (Banda et al., 2015) stored at 5°C showed that low O2 con­ centration significantly decreases the respiration rate. Also, the concentration of O2 2­4 kPa is recom­ mended to maintain the quality of pomegranate arils cv. Mollar de Elche (López­Rubira et al., 2005). In a study on pomegranate arils cv. Wonderful in modi­ Adv. Hort. Sci., 2024 38(1): 83­96 86 fied atmosphere (4.67kPa O2, and 12.67kPa CO2) packed with PropaFilm and Nature Flex showed that arils packed in PropaFilm had lower mass loss than NatureFlex, due to the film’s lower water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) (Belay et al., 2018). High gas barrier properties PropaFilm, even at high rela­ tive humidity, lead to the potential for shelf­life extension. Weight changes are related to changes in respiration and transpiration, which are influenced by the difference in diffusion resistance and the sur­ face to volume ratio of pomegranate arils (Khorshidi et al., 2011). Long­term storage of pomegranate arils causes more weight loss due to higher enzyme activi­ ty and lower resistance of the cell membrane against water loss (Belay et al., 2018). Modified atmosphere packaging reduces the vapor pressure difference between the surface and environment of the product by maintaining the relative humidity around the fruit, accordingly reducing the water loss of the product (Ngcobo et al., 2013). Water loss of whole pomegranate fruit causes husk browning at the storage (Nerya et al., 2006). Also, enzymatic browning after microbial infection is the main cause of quality reduction (Ioannou and Ghoul, 2013) that polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and per­ oxidase (POD) activity increases the brown superficial discoloration of pomegranate fruits (Xie et al., 2019; Baghel et al., 2021). Storage of pomegranates cv. Mollar de Elche in controlled atmospheres (10kPa O2 and 5kPa CO2; 5kPa O2 and 5kPa CO2; 5kPa O2 and 10kPa CO2;or 5kPa O2 and 0kPa CO2) for 8 weeks at 5°C showed that all treatments except 10kPa O2 and 5kPa CO2 reduced weight loss, fungal rot and chilling injury symptoms (husk scald) and were efficient for increasing the quality and extending the shelf life of pomegranate fruits (Artés et al., 2000). Moreover, storage of pomegranate fruit in a controlled atmos­ phere (1 kPa O2 +15 kPa CO2 or 5 kPa O2 +15 kPa CO2) significantly reduced botrytis rot and scald for up to 6 months at 7°C (Defilippi et al., 2006; Palou et al., 2007). Pomegranate fruits stored in a modified atmosphere (5kPa CO2 + 3kPa O2) for three months at 5°C had wrinkle­free husk and smoother, less chilling injury, fewer disease symptoms and, as a result, bet­ ter quality compared to fruits stored in a normal atmosphere (Sidhu et al., 2019). Pomegranate fruits stored in a modified atmosphere (5­10 kPa CO2 + 3­5 kPa O2) increases shelf life due to reduced weight loss, decay and injury symptoms (Selçuk and Erkan, 2015; Porat et al., 2016; Maghoumi et al., 2022). High CO2 concentration is effective in maintaining the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) (Song et al., 2013), and on the other hand, due to the lower O2 concentration, POD and PPO enzymes do not catalyse the oxidation of phenols (Ali et al., 2019). Also, increasing the concen­ tration of CO2 and decreasing the concentration of O2 will inhibit fungal contamination by suppressing res­ piration (Almenar et al., 2006). As mentioned, water stress, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation and cell membrane instability are key factors in burn develop­ ment (Singh et al., 2018). MAP and CA prevent husk scald by limiting oxygen access, oxidative stress and water loss prevention. It has been proved that MAP is effective in maintaining the external and internal quality of pomegranate fruit by controlling weight loss, and preventing fungal decay and husk scald dur­ ing cold storage (Selçuk and Erkan, 2015; Porat et al., 2016). Fruit weight loss increases CI symptoms by destroying the membrane integrity (Opara et al., 2015; Maghoumi et al., 2023). The decrease in unsat­ urated fatty acid content and membrane fluidity causes damage to the membrane structures and a lack of resistance to cold (Casares et al., 2019). It has been reported that CI symptoms coincide with the leakage of electrolytes in the pomegranate peel (Casares et al., 2019). Oxidative damage, membrane chilling injury and electrolyte leakage in pomegranate peel are indicated as a function of O2 levels in the first days of storage (Valdenegro et al., 2018). In the modified atmosphere condition, the stability of SOD and CAT enzymes leads to less accumulation of H2O2 and malondialdehyde (MDA), more integrity of the membrane and therefore less electrolyte leakage (Li et al., 2016; Valdenegro et al., 2022), and a higher PAL/PPO ratio reduces oxidative damage (Baghel et al., 2021). Researchers have studied extensively the effect of a low­oxygen atmosphere on the quality characteristics of whole pomegranate fruit or arils cv. Primosole (D’Aquino et al., 2010), cv. Acco and Herskawitz (Caleb et al., 2013 a, b), cv. Wonderful (Banda et al., 2015), cv. Hicaznar (Candir et al., 2018), cv. Shishe­Kab (Moradinezhad et al., 2013, 2019), and it has been found that the atmosphere with low oxygen has the potential to prevent weight loss, chill­ ing injury, decay and delay in post­harvest ripening (Table 1). Firmness The firmness reduction is related to water loss, Moradinezhad and Ranjbar ‐ Efficacy of MAP on the shelf life of pomegranate fruit and arils 87 cell membrane deterioration and senescence (Díaz­ Mula et al., 2012; Hussein et al., 2015). The effect of MAP on maintaining fruit firmness is related to the control of weight loss, which has an important effect on postharvest management (Jouki and Khazaei, 2014). Also, maintaining post­harvest firmness is related to the control of biochemical processes (activities of pectinsterase and polygalacturonase enzymes) (Fagundes et al., 2015; Bang et al., 2019) and the prevention of ethylene synthesis under a modified atmosphere (Akbudak et al., 2012). High CO2 inhibits ethylene production and delays ripening (Kader and Watkins, 2000). A similar effect of high CO2 and super atmospheric O2 has been reported on firmness of aril cv. Wonderful that arils stored under super atmospheric O2 (70%) showed a slight increase in the firmness compared to low O2 treatment (5 and 10%) (Belay et al., 2017 b). A low respiration rate lim­ its the activity of cell wall­degrading enzymes (such as pectinase and cellulase) and preserves firmness during storage (Fagundes et al., 2015; Bessemans et al., 2016), and as a result delayed ripening (Mahajan et al., 2014; EL­Eryanet al., 2020). MAP can lead to structure preservation, less tissue damage and shelf­ life quality of aril due to increased vapor pressure and reduced cell wall polysaccharides degradation (Zhao et al., 2019). Color characteristics Fruit color is related to the breakdown of chloro­ plasts, chromoplasts and the change of natural pig­ ments (chlorophylls, anthocyanins, carotenoids, flavonoids) that are affected by packaging and stor­ age conditions (Yin et al., 2016). L*, a*, b* values rep­ resent the lightness, redness and yellowness. Chroma (C*) and hue angle (h°) describe the color intensity and purity, respectively. L*, C* and h° indices reflect the intensity of the color. A slight decrease in C* and an increase in h° indicates the loss of color intensity of pomegranate arils during storage (Palma et al., 2015). Loss of the color intensity during MAP can be controlled by regulating enzymatic and non­enzymat­ ic activities through decreasing O2 concentration or reducing water loss (Belay et al., 2018). High CO2 con­ centration prevents enzymatic browning by reducing phenolic substrate and PPO activity (Manolopoulou and Varzakas, 2013). Belay et al. (2017 b) reported that MAP, storage time and their interaction had a significant effect on color intensity of pomegranates cv. Wonderful stored at 5°C. The highest C* was observed under a low O2 atmosphere (5kPa), while the super O2 atmosphere (70kPa) maintained initial C* values during storage (Belay et al., 2017 b). Titratable acidity (TA) and total soluble solids (TSS) The reduction in TA of pomegranate juice cv. Mollar de Elche without changes in TSS was observed under UV­C treatment and super atmospheric O2 conditions, which is related to metabolic activities and increased catabolism of organic acids in the res­ piration process (Maghoumi et al., 2013). On the other hand, increasing TA of arils cv. Kingdom and MR­100 under the passive modified atmosphere at 5°C were due to fermentation, which was confirmed by the growth of total aerobic bacteria, yeasts, and molds (Adiletta et al., 2017). Changes in gas composi­ tion (increase and/or decrease O2 or CO2) hydrolyze polysaccharides to sugars (Sucrose, glucose, and fruc­ tose) by changing the activity of carbohydrate biosyn­ thesis enzymes and sugar compound metabolism. The active modified atmosphere provides high non­ reducing sugars at the end of storage, which can affect the chemical, sensory and quality characteris­ tics of pomegranate arils during storage (Patanè et al., 2019; Moradinezhad et al., 2020). In addition, an increase in sugar content (fructose, glucose, and sucrose) of pomegranate cv. Wonderful was observed in 4.6kPa O2 and 12.65kPa CO2 (Belay et al., 2018), likely because that exposure to CO2 preserves energy reserves. The reduction of TSS in the super­ atmospheric is due to the reduction of carbohy­ drates, pectin, partial hydrolysis of protein and breakdown of glycosides into constituent units during respiration (Blanch et al., 2015). The effect of MAP on organic acids and sugars of pomegranate fruit report­ ed as inconsistent and were mainly depended on the cultivar and also the duration of storage, as the TSS value on cv. Mridula increased (Barman et al., 2011), while on cv. Ruby decreased (Fawole and Opara, 2013), and on cv. Mollar remained unchanged (Sayyari et al., 2011). Therefore, the control of respi­ ration rate (RR) and transpiration rate (TR) is crucial to preserve TA and TSS values during storage as much as possible, in order to get a higher TSS to TA ratio index. Ascorbic acid, antioxidant and anthocyanin content The reduction of ascorbic acid (AA) was observed in arils cv. Malese Saveh stored under super atmos­ pheric O2 (70kPa) for 14 days at 4°C (Maghoumi et al., 2014). In investigating the effect of the modified atmosphere, low O2 (5 or 10kPa O2, 10kPa CO2), super 88 Adv. Hort. Sci., 2024 38(1): 83­96 atmosphere (70kPa O2, 10kPa CO2) and normal atmosphere on the AA content of pomegranate cv. Wonderful at 5°C, it was found that oxidation AA was associated with the presence of O2. As a result, the content of AA decreased in the super atmosphere and normal atmosphere (Belay et al., 2017 b). However, super atmospheric O2 has beneficial effects on other quality characteristics. Excessive amounts of O2 and CO2 may cause the oxidation of AA through increasing oxidative stress on plant tissues (Belay et al., 2017 b). Besides the atmosphere, the nature of the fruit also affects the concentration of AA during storage, so acidity levels are one of the factors affect­ ing the stability of AA during storage (Wahyuningsih et al., 2017). The reduction of AA as an antioxidant agent is due to its use as an electron donor to oxi­ dants for neutralizing free radicals is attributed to fruit respiration and sensitivity to chilling injury (Artés et al., 2006). The effect of packaging with different gas compo­ sitions (5 kPa O2 + 10 kPa CO2 + 85 kPa N2; 10 kPa O2 + 5 kPa CO2 + 85 kPa N2; 70 kPa O2 + 10 kPa CO2 + 20 kPa N2; 21 kPa O2 + 0.03 kPa CO2 + 78 kPa N2) was investigated on the physicochemical characteristics, nutrient and volatile organic compounds of aril cv. Wonderful for 12 days at 5°C. It was observed that arils packed with low O2(5 kPa O2 + 10 kPa CO2 + 85 kPa N2) have more nutrients content (Belay et al., 2017 b). Higher values of AA, anthocyanin and phe­ nolic compounds were observed in pomegranate cv. Wonderful stored in low O2 concentration (5 kPa O2+ 10 kPa CO2 + 85 kPa N2 and 10 kPa O2 + 5 kPa CO2 + 85 kPa N2) at 5°C. Also, maintaining low O2 concen­ tration using low permeability polypropylene film preserved pomegranate anthocyanin and improved sensory quality (Banda et al., 2015). Decreasing the respiration rate reduces the amount of carbohy­ drates, and the carbohydrates that accumulate in the tissue are used in the production of phenolic com­ pounds (Wang et al., 2017). Increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as SOD, CAT, and APX removes oxygen free radi­ cals and reduces the activity of PPO and POD enzymes involved in the browning of arils cv. Purple Queen was packed in semipermeable film, which had higher polyphenol and anthocyanin content (Adiletta et al., 2019). Also, heat treatment, UV­C and super atmospheric O2 packaging delayed the PPO and glu­ tathione peroxidase (GPX) activity of pomegranate arils cv. Malese­Saveh and maintained the antioxi­ dant concentration (Maghoumi et al. , 2013). Accumulation of phenolic compounds exposed to high O2 can be a physiological stress response, and stimulates phenylalanine ammonia­lyase (PAL) activi­ ty during minimal processing (Baenas et al., 2014). The increase of O2 in the first days of storage may increase the antioxidant activity, but in the long­ term, it reduces the main antioxidants including anthocyanins and phenolic compounds due to the oxidation stimulated by O2 (Maghoumi et al., 2014). Increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) causes the oxidation of phenolic compounds due to the increase in PPO activity and loss of membrane compartmen­ talization (Cisneros­Zevallos et al., 2014). At the end of the storage of pomegranate arils cv. Wonderful the lowest anthocyanin concentration was observed n high O2 atmospheres (30kPa O2 and 10kPa CO2) (Banda et al., 2015), which could be due to the oxida­ tion of AA (Maghoumi et al., 2014). Palma et al. (2015) related the changes in anthocyanin content to the presence of organic acids (e.g. ascorbic acid) and titratable acidity, which provide the carbon skeleton for the synthesis of secondary metabolites (e g. anthocyanins) during storage (Palma et al., 2015). Changes in anthocyanin content can be attributed to the interaction of arils with gas composition, biosyn­ thesis and stability of individual anthocyanins (Palma et al., 2015; Moradinezhad et al., 2020). Due to the inhibition of anthocyanin biosynthesis in high CO2, the anthocyanins of pomegranate cv. Wonderful stored in atmospheres enriched with CO2 (10­20 kPa) were lower compared to fruit stored in air (Holcroft et al., 1998). Higher levels of CO2 in X5 and X12 pack­ ages probably delayed anthocyanin synthesis and reduced the intensity of aril color during storage by reducing anthocyanin and phenol (Selcuk and Erkan, 2015; Tzoumaki et al., 2009). The reduction in antho­ cyanin content, which affects the color of arils, is a disadvantage of storage with high CO2 levels (Table 1). Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) The identified VOCs comprised five compound groups (aldehyde, ketone, alcohol, ester and monoterpene), ester compounds were dominant, fol­ lowed by ketones and aldehydes, whereas, alcohol and monoterpenes were the least abundant (Belay et al., 2018). Increasing VOCs are related to the acceler­ ation of metabolism in response to the atmosphere, which can lead to stress and disruption of enzyme systems (Giuggioli et al., 2015). Increased VOCs at low O2 stimulate the production of fermentative Moradinezhad and Ranjbar ‐ Efficacy of MAP on the shelf life of pomegranate fruit and arils 89 Table 1 a ­Efficacy of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on whole pomegranate fruit and arils Pomegranate cultivar Treatment Whole fruit/Aril Storage time (days) Outcomes Reference Hicaznar Passive modified atmosphere using Xtend® and ZOEpac Whole fruit 210 Increase of polyphenols, anthocyanins, antioxidant activity, delay in color change and maintain appearance quality up to day 120, maintain physiological and biochemi­ cal properties up to day 180. (Selcuk and Erkan, 2015) Hicaznar Passive modified atmosphere using Xtend® Whole fruit 180 Maintaining husk color, titratable acidity, and ascorbic acid content, and reducing weight loss and husk scald. (Candir et al., 2018) Shishe­kab Pre­treatment with short­term high CO2 and packaging in polyeth­ ylene bags, Nano­bags and Decoo Magic Bag Whole fruit 90 Reducing respiration rate, weight loss, decay, and chilling injury, and maintaining organoleptic properties (Moradinezhad et al., 2018) Afganski, Crab, Cranberry, Entek­ habi­saveh Modified atmosphere packaging (5 kPa CO2 + 3 kPa O2) Whole fruit 90 The fruit had a wrinkle­free skin, less chill­ ing injury, less disease symptoms and bet­ ter quality (Sidhu et al., 2019) Succary Passive modified atmosphere using high ethylene absorption (HEA), perforated polyethylene (PPE), polyethylene (PE) fi lm, stretchable cling film, poly vinyl Whole fruit 90 The fruit had a less chilling injury, lower changes in acidity and soluble solid con­ tent, and increased antioxidant activity. (Serry, 2019) Wonderful Passive modified atmosphere using non­perforated ‘Decco’ and ‘Zoe’, micro­perforated Xtend®, micro and macro perforated high density polyethylene (HDPE) Whole fruit 84 Packaging whole fruit with micro­ and macro­ perforation reduced post­harvest losses by minimizing moisture condensa­ tion, fruit rot and shriveling. (Lufu et al., 2021) Wonderful Passive modified atmosphere using micro­perforated Xtend® and macro­perforated high­densi­ ty polyethylene Whole fruit 42 Fruits packaged in the micro­perforated Xtend® had least weight loss, lowest respi­ ration rates, highest total soluble solids and no fungal decay. (Kawhena et al., 2022) Wonderful Passive modified atmosphere using XTend™ bags Whole fruit 120 Increasing the concentration of antho­ cyanin in the husk and arils, delaying the symptoms of chilling injury up to 120 days (Valdenegro et al., 2022) Wonderful Passive modified atmosphere using 100% cellulose­based film NatureFlex (NF), bi­axial­oriented polypropylene (BOPP)­based film PropaFilm (PF), NF­PF (66:33%) film, and PF­NF (33:66%) film Aril 9 Pakage NF­PF (66:33%) film, and PF­NF (33:66%) film resulted in lowest in­package water vapour condensation and mold growth, and maintained the quality of arils at storage. (Belay et al., 2018) Purple Queen Passive modified atmosphere using micro­perforated (MPP) and semipermeable (SP) films Aril 16 Arils packaged in the SP system had high polyphenols, anthocyanins contents, antioxidant activity (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase) and low polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase activity. (Adiletta et al., 2019) Wonderful Passive modified atmosphere using Xtend bag, polyethylene bag, polypropylene bag, and silver nano bag Aril 18 Silver nano bag maintained the taste, aroma and overall acceptability, antho­ cyanin, vitamin C and antioxidant activity and reduced pectinase activity. (EL­Eryan, 2020) Wonderful The nitrogen and argon­based MAP treatment (MAP Ar) Aril 16 Arils packaged in the (MAP Ar) had high sugar/acid ratio, and desired sensory quali­ (Tinebra et al., 2021) Adv. Hort. Sci., 2024 38(1): 83­96 90 compounds (Zhang et al., 2013 a; Cortellino et al., 2015) and induce cell damage and senescence by producing anaerobic metabolism (Li and Zhang, 2015). Super atmospheric O2 affects the synthesis and accumulation of some VOCs related to respirato­ ry metabolism (such as acetaldehyde, ethanol, and ethyl esters). Accumulation of acetaldehyde is the first indicator of fermentation metabolism, which is rapidly converted to ethanol by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and negatively effects on sen­ sory properties (Thewes et al., 2015; Manolopoulou and Varzakas, 2013). The highest amount of VOCs was observed in arils stored under super atmospheric O2 and enriched CO2 (70kPa O2, 10kPa CO2) and the low­ est amount was observed in arils stored in the normal atmosphere at the end of storage (Belay et al., 2017 a). Increasing synthesis of VOCs in response to wound (Amaro et al., 2012), or high CO2 concentration leads to disruption of enzymatic systems, such as the lipoxygenase pathway (Giuggioli et al., 2015) which catalyzes the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids. Microbial load Fungi (yeasts and molds) are important pathogen­ ic microorganisms that are resistant to acid condi­ tions (Jacxsens et al., 2001; Firdous et al., 2023). Yeasts are facultative anaerobes, and in contrast, molds are aerobes, which has been observed high CO2 (>10%) inhibits mold growth (Molin, 2000). The reduction count of mesophilic bacteria has been reported in minimal processing pomegranate cv. Hicaznar under a high O2 atmosphere (70 kPa) com­ pared to low O2 and normal atmosphere at 5°C (Ayhan and Estürk, 2009). A high O2 atmosphere is used in fresh­cut due to its ability to prevent anaero­ bic fermentation, enzymatic discoloration and micro­ Table 1 b ­Efficacy of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on whole pomegranate fruit and arils Pomegranate cultivar Treatment Whole fruit/Aril Storage time days Outcomes Reference Bhagwa Passive modified atmosphere using transparent high­density Aril 5 Increasing titratable acidity, anthocyanins reducing sugars, and total soluble solids, (Rokalla et al., 2022) Rabbab Passive modified atmosphere using Polyethylene+ Polyester (PE+PES) and Biaxial oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film Aril 15 PE+PES film caused delay in decreasing the trend of total antioxidant activity and had the lowest number of aerobic mesophilic bacteria and psychrophilic bacteria. (Ranjbar and Ramezanian, 2022) Wonderful Active modified atmosphere based on high O2 Aril 12 The gas mixture containing 30 kPa O2 + 10 kPa CO2 + 60 kPa N2 had lower aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts, higher sensory scores and long­term shelf life. (Banda et al., 2015) Wonderful Active modified atmosphere based on low O2 and enriched CO2 Aril 9 The gas mixture containing 12.67–18 kPa CO2, 2–4.67 kPa O2 and 80 − 82.67 kPa N2 reduced microbial count. (Belay et al., 2017 a) Wonderful Active modified atmosphere based on low O2 and super­atmos­ pheric O2 Aril 12 The gas mixture containing 5 kPa O2 + 10 kPa CO2 + 85 kPa N2 and 10 kPa O2 + 5 kPa CO2 + 85 kPa N2 maintained phytonutrient content, 70 kPa O2 + 10 kPa CO2 + 85 kPa N2 had low aerobic mesophilic bacteria, yeast and mold counts. (Belay et al., 2017 b) cv. Wonderful Active modified atmosphere based on low O2 Aril 9 The gas mixture containing 2 kPa O2 +18 kPa CO2 + 80 kPa N2 leads to the accumula­ tion of ethanol, increase in respiration quo­ tient and oxidation of organic acids. (Belay et al., 2019 b) Moradinezhad and Ranjbar ‐ Efficacy of MAP on the shelf life of pomegranate fruit and arils 91 bial growth (Jacxsens et al., 2001) and it is effective by increasing the lag phase of growth and reducing the growth of bacteria and yeast in arils pomegran­ ate (Belay et al., 2017 a; Moradinezhad et al., 2020). The inhibitory effect of the high O2 is due to the toxi­ city of oxygen, which causes damage to the antioxi­ dant system, DNA and nucleoproteins of microor­ ganisms by ROS (O2−, H2O2 and OH−) produced at a partial pressure of O2 (Tomas­Callejas et al., 2011). Pre­storage short­term high CO2treatment signifi­ cantly reduced the decay of pomegranate fruits dur­ ing cold storage (Moradinezhad et al., 2018). High CO2 reduces the microbial load of fruit by penetrat­ ing the microbial membrane, changing intracellular pH or forming carbonic acid, which has bacteriostat­ ic effects (Zhang et al., 2013 b; Banda et al., 2015; Belay et al., 2017 b; Ranjbari et al., 2018; Van de Velde et al . , 2019, 2020; Moradinezhad and Dorostkar, 2020). High CO2 pretreatment has signifi­ cant potential to prevent water loss, oxidative dam­ age, and control decay. It seems to be related to the induction of specific defense proteins, including dehydrins and pathogenesis­related proteins, as well as endogenous protective osmolytes (Vazquez­ Hernandez et al., 2018). At ambient air temperature, the active modified atmosphere affected on the chemical and qualitative characteristics of pome­ granate arils, which were related to the reduction of microbial load, safety and high organoleptic proper­ ties (Rokalla et al., 2022). 3. Conclusions and future prospects Post­harvest loss is one of the main problems in the pomegranate industry worldwide. Since the qual­ ity of the fruit is determined by internal and external characteristics, it is necessary to maintain the overall quality of the product for supply to consumers. Considering that pomegranate fruit is non­climac­ teric, the use of MAP polymer films may have a good potential for the maintenance of its quality.In this study, the mechanism of the effects of MAP on the physicochemical and qualitative characteristics of whole and minimally processed arils of pomegranate werereviewed, and indicated that MAP had a signifi­ cant effect to prevent chilling injury and maintain fruit quality. Several studies have reported the advantages of the modified atmosphere in extending the shelf life based on low O2 concentration and enriched CO2. 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