Apricot is highly susceptible to chilling injury during low temperature storage, while methyl salicylate (MeSA) can alleviate chilling injury and enhance the postharvest quality of fruit. The apricots were preharvest sprayed twice with 0.05 mmol L⁻¹, 0.1 mmol L⁻¹ and 0.2 mmol L⁻¹ of MeSA solution, and then were harvested and stored at 2 °C (humidity of 70 %). After cold storage for every 4 d, apricots were transferred to 20 °C for 2 d to determine the fruit quality. Our results indicated that 0.2 mmol L⁻¹ MeSA treatment exhibited the best efficacy. Preharvest MeSA treatment could reduce decay rate and chilling injury (CI) index, and maintain firmness, soluble solid content (SSC), organic acids and antioxidant capacities at a relative higher level. Preharvest MeSA treatment inhibited the increase of electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde (MDA) and H₂O₂ content in apricot. The chilling temperature of 2 °C could lead to the degradation of sucrose to fructose and glucose in apricot. At the same time, preharvest MeSA treatment effectively alleviated CI symptoms of apricot by reducing the degradation rate. The enhanced chilling tolerance of apricot treated with MeSA could be affected by the increased sucrose content, which was regulated by the higher activities of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) and sucrose synthase-synthesis (SS-S), and the lower activities of acid invertase (AI), neutral invertase (NI) and sucrose synthase-cleavage (SS-C). We proposed that preharvest MeSA treatment could enhance the chilling tolerance by regulating sugar metabolism and further improve the postharvest quality of apricot during low temperature storage.

杏在低温储存过程中极易遭受冷害，而水杨酸甲酯（MeSA）可以减轻冷害并提高果实的采后质量。将杏收获前分别用0.05 mmol L ^-1、0.1 mmol L ^-1和0.2 mmol L ^-1的MeSA溶液喷雾两次，然后收获并储存在2°C（湿度70％）下。每隔4 d冷藏后，将杏转移至20°C 2 d以确定果实质量。我们的结果表明0.2 mmol L ^-1MeSA治疗表现出最好的疗效。收获前MeSA处理可以降低腐烂率和冷害指数（CI），并将硬度，可溶性固形物（SSC），有机酸和抗氧化能力维持在较高水平。收获前MeSA处理抑制了电解质泄漏，丙二醛（MDA）和H ₂ O _2的增加杏中的含量。2°C的冷却温度可能导致杏子中蔗糖降解为果糖和葡萄糖。同时，收获前MeSA处理可通过降低降解速率有效缓解杏的CI症状。蔗糖含量的增加可能会影响用MeSA处理的杏提高的耐寒性，蔗糖含量的增加受到蔗糖磷酸合成酶（SPS）和蔗糖合成酶合成（SS-S）的较高活性以及酸转化酶的较低活性的调节。 （AI），中性转化酶（NI）和蔗糖合酶裂解（SS-C）。我们提出，收获前MeSA处理可通过调节糖代谢来增强耐寒性，并进一步提高杏在低温贮藏过程中的收获后质量。