Si Zengzhi, Men Fengrui, Liu Yangyang, Wang Weicao, Song Jiale
Hebei Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao, Hebei, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Jul 28;16:1623582. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1623582. eCollection 2025.
Sweet potato ( (L.) Lam.) are prone to damage during harvest and postharvest storage, leading to significant economic value depreciation. To mitigate nutritional degradation and improve storability, the application of appropriate preservatives is essential. Conventional preservation techniques, including physical, chemical, and biological approaches -though effective, present inherent limitations. Recent research has prioritized eco-friendly natural preservatives from Chinese herbal medicines as sustainable alternatives to synthetic biocides. In this study, we evaluated the storability of fourteen sweet potato varieties and assessed the preservation of Chinese herbal extracts on varieties with differential storage tolerance by investigating storage quality. The results showed that the purple-fleshed line JK142 (storage-tolerant representative) exhibited the lowest decay rate and moderate dry matter content; the yellow-fleshed cultivar Jishu 25 (moderately storage-tolerant representative) showed intermediate decay rate but the highest dry matter content; the white-fleshed line JK147 (storage-sensitive representative) displayed the highest decay rate and lowest dry matter content. Consequently, lines JK142 (storage-tolerant), Jishu 25 (moderately tolerant), and JK147 (storage-sensitive) were selected as representatives of three distinct storability levels to systematically evaluate the effects of varying concentrations of five Chinese herbal extracts on sweet potato postharvest preservation. The results revealed that the storage-tolerant cultivar JK142 achieved optimal cost-benefit preservation with 2% extract; the moderately tolerant Jishu 25 responded best to 0.5% extract; the storage-sensitive JK147 required 1% extract. These results substantiate the theoretical framework for developing plant-derived preservatives and highlight cultivar-specific preservation strategies. The study further establishes a foundation for investigating the mechanistic basis of herbal extract efficacy in postharvest management.
甘薯（Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.）在收获和采后储存期间容易受到损害，导致经济价值大幅下降。为了减轻营养成分的降解并提高耐储存性，应用适当的防腐剂至关重要。传统的保鲜技术，包括物理、化学和生物学方法——虽然有效，但存在固有的局限性。最近的研究将来自中草药的环保型天然防腐剂作为合成杀菌剂的可持续替代品加以优先考虑。在本研究中，我们评估了14个甘薯品种的耐储存性，并通过调查储存品质来评估中草药提取物对具有不同储存耐受性的品种的保鲜效果。结果表明，紫肉品系JK142（耐储存代表性品种）的腐烂率最低，干物质含量适中；黄肉品种济薯25（中等耐储存代表性品种）的腐烂率处于中等水平，但干物质含量最高；白肉品系JK147（对储存敏感的代表性品种）的腐烂率最高，干物质含量最低。因此，选择JK142品系（耐储存）、济薯25（中等耐储存）和JK147品系（对储存敏感）作为三种不同耐储存水平的代表，以系统评估五种中草药提取物不同浓度对甘薯采后保鲜的影响。结果显示，耐储存品种JK142使用2%的提取物可实现最佳的成本效益保鲜效果；中等耐储存的济薯25对0.5%的提取物反应最佳；对储存敏感的JK147需要1%的提取物。这些结果证实了开发植物源防腐剂的理论框架，并突出了品种特异性的保鲜策略。该研究进一步为研究中草药提取物在采后管理中发挥功效的作用机制奠定了基础。
