Impact of pre and post-harvest application of methyl jasmonate on fruit quality and storage behavior of strawberry

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm (Horticulture), Department of Horticulture, Career Point University, Kota during the session 2024-2025. The experiment consisted of ten treatments comprising different amount of methyl jasmonate levels. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. Better quality parameters viz. maximum TSS (13.12 °B), TSS/acid ratio (5.23), total sugar (7.92%), ascorbic acid content (80.00 mg 100g-1) and anthocyanin content (38.05 mg100g-1) was recorded under 0.4 mM MeJA (T3) while maximum phenol content (80.71 mg GAE/100g) was recorded under 0.6 mM MeJA. On the final day of observation during storage, (0.4 mM MeJA pre +post-harvest) showed the highest TSS, highest total sugar, maximum ascorbic acid, maximum anthocyanin, highest TSS: Acid ratio and maximum antioxidant. Based on overall performance, treatment 0.4 mM MeJAwas found superior over all other treatments with respect to growth, yield and quality parameters and shelf life of strawberry fruits.