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• 1-MCP + ethylene absorbent (EA) treatment increase shelf-life of 'Fenjiao' banana. • EA does not have the negative effect on the ripening of 'Fenjiao' banana. • 1-MCP+EA repress the enzymes activity related to fruit softening. • 1-MCP +EA modulate the expression of gene related of ripening. • 1-MCP +EA treatment is easy to promote and apply in the banana industry. The 'Fenjiao' banana (Musa ABB Pisang Awak) has a high commercial and nutritional value and is harvested when it is highly plump at between 85 and 90 % commercial maturity. The fruit are less angular at this stage. However, these fruit soften rapidly after harvest. 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) significantly delays ripening, but it can cause ripening disorders when used improperly. Ethylene absorbent (EA) is also widely used to increase the postharvest life of fruit, but it has less of an effect on 'Fenjiao' banana. This study was conducted to optimize the concentrations of 1-MCP combined with EA to increase the shelf life of these bananas. The results showed that a low concentration of 1-MCP (7 g L−1) combined with EA (2 g kg−1) significantly prolonged the shelf life of the 'Fenjiao' banana and maintained its high quality. The combination of 1-MCP and EA repressed the activities of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) oxidase, ACC synthase, pectin methylesterase, polygalacturonase and pectate lyase in the peel and pulp of 'Fenjiao' banana, as well as the corresponding levels of expression of MbACS1, MbACO1, MbPG1, MbPL1 , except for MbPME1 , which are induced by 1-MCP. This study provides a useful technique for preserving 'Fenjiao' fruit with a study on its possible physiological mechanism, which could be applied in the postharvest production of 'Fenjiao' banana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Low temperature reduced banana fruity note volatiles such as esters. • Low temperatures affected volatile-related amino acids and fatty acid compositions. • Chilling temperature affected the key enzymes and genes in volatile biosynthesis. • Low temperatures repressed the LOX pathway and amino acid metabolic pathway. Abstract Banana fruit is sensitive to chilling injury, which not only causes physical damage but also dramatically reduces fruit flavor. In this work, we evaluated the influence of non-chilling low temperature (NCT, 13 °C) and chilling temperature (CT, 5 °C) storage on volatiles production in banana in comparison to control conditions (20 °C) and evaluated the possible mechanisms. We found that CT storage caused chilling injury, which negatively affected the physical appearance of the fruit and dramatically reduced volatiles production, especially fruity note volatiles, such as esters. In contrast, NCT storage only reduced the production of a few specific volatiles. Both NCT and CT affected volatile-related amino acid and biosynthetic precursors of fatty acid compositions. The expression levels of the volatiles biosynthesis-related genes, MaHPL, MaLOX, and MaAAT, were repressed by low temperature (NCT and CT), particularly chilling temperature, while MaADH and MaPDC were up-regulated. These results suggest that CT significantly reduces volatiles production by regulating different key enzymes and genes involved in volatiles biosynthetic pathways and is mainly mediated via the repression of the lipoxygenase and amino acid metabolic pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]