Yellowing of sepals is a characteristics symptom of senescence
in broccoli. In our study, 12 g L1 sucrose was the most suitable
concentration to prolonging the shelf life of broccoli. Sucrose
treatment significantly prevented the increase of L* value and
caused the higher retention of H angle and chlorophyll content in
comparison to the control florets. Nishikawa et al. (2005) reported
that continuous uptake of 10% sucrose solution increased the
longevity of broccoli and affected the rate of ethylene biosynthesis.
Heat treatment could reduce chlorophyll degradation in broccoli
due to the suppression of chlorophyll degrading enzyme activities
(Funamoto et al., 2002). Treatment with ethanol suppressed the
activities and gene expression of chlorophyll catabolic enzymes,
resulting in delayed yellowing of broccoli florets (Fukasawa et al.,
2010). In our work, sucrose treatment delaying chlorophyll
degradation could be probably related to the inhibition of enzymes
activities and expression of genes associated to chlorophyll
degradation