Starting from these findings, the aims of this paper were: i) to
assess the CI parameters (CI score and electrolyte leakage) of three
basil cultivars (‘‘Italico a foglia larga”, ‘‘Cammeo”, and ‘‘Italiano
classico”) stored at 4 or 12 C postharvest; ii) to investigate the
VOCs profile by SPME GC–MS of the three basil cultivars during
storage and iii) to detect volatile markers of CI injury of basil leaves
by multivariate data analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is
the first report on the establishment of the volatile expression in
basil leaves stored at chilling temperature and the correlation
between VOCs patterns and CI parameters.