RESUMO
Manifestation of flesh browning while commercialising 'Rojo Brillante' persimmon is one of the main causes of postharvest loss. It is known that mechanical damage is a decisive factor for browning development and that astringent fruit is less sensitive to this disorder than fruit submitted to a CO2 deastringency treatment under standard conditions (24h, 95% CO2, 20 °C). However, there is no information available about the mechanism behind this alteration. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of treatment with high CO2 concentrations applied for 0-40 h on the incidence of mechanical impact-induced flesh disorders using biochemical, chromatographic and microstructural techniques. Our results show that the longer the CO2 exposure, the higher the incidence and the greater the severity browning. A deastringency treatment with CO2 results in O2(-) accumulation in fruit, which is greater the longer treatment is. However, mechanical damage triggers the browning manifestation, resulting in the accumulation of both O2(-) and H2O2. In this oxidative stress state, which must be greater as higher the level of O2(-) previously accumulated in the deastringency treatment, insoluble tannins initially uncolour, undergo an oxidation process and turn red-brown, observed as flesh browning. Moreover, we identified a new disorder, "pinkish-bruising", which is manifested in astringent fruit. The mechanism of this alteration, also associated with mechanical damage, seems similar to that of browning, but the oxidation process would affect soluble tannins.