Overview of Witloof Chicory ( Cichorium intybus L.) Discolorations and Their Underlying Physiological and Biochemical Causes
Many fruits and vegetables suffer from unwanted discolorations that reduce product quality, leading to substantial losses along the supply chain. Witloof chicory ( L. var. ), a specialty crop characterized by its unique bitter taste and crunchiness, is particularly sensitive to various types of red...
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Published in | Frontiers in plant science Vol. 13; p. 843004 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media S.A
23.02.2022
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Many fruits and vegetables suffer from unwanted discolorations that reduce product quality, leading to substantial losses along the supply chain. Witloof chicory (
L. var.
), a specialty crop characterized by its unique bitter taste and crunchiness, is particularly sensitive to various types of red and brown discolorations. The etiolated vegetable suffers from three predominant color disorders, i.e., core browning, internal leaf reddening, and leaf edge browning. Additionally, several less frequently observed color disorders such as hollow pith, external red, and
can also negatively affect crop quality. In this article, we bring together fragmented literature and present a comprehensive overview of the different discoloration types in chicory, and discuss their potential underlying physiological causes, including laticifer rupture, calcium deficiency, and a disturbed water distribution. We also describe the role of environmental cues that influence discoloration incidence, including cultivation and postharvest storage conditions such as forcing and storage temperature, root ripeness and the duration of the forcing process. Finally, we zoom in on the underlying biochemical pathways that govern color disorders in witloof chicory, with a strong emphasis on polyphenol oxidase. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1 Reviewed by: Hossein Sadeghi, Shiraz University, Iran; Rajko Vidrih, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Edited by: Xinchao Wang, Tea Research Institute (CAAS), China This article was submitted to Crop and Product Physiology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Plant Science |
ISSN: | 1664-462X 1664-462X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpls.2022.843004 |