Publications by authors named "M Garcia-Pastor"

Pitahaya or dragon fruit is an exotic fruit native to Mesoamerica and is cultivated in several regions of the world. In recent years, pitahaya has become increasingly in demand, firstly, for its good nutritional and organoleptic qualities and, secondly, for its richness in antioxidants and bioactive compounds. Spain has opted for new tropical crops, and among them, pitahaya is one of the most planted in recent years.

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Brassinosteroids (BRs), a new family of plant hormones, have been used in a range of food staples, oil crops, and cereals. However, the scientific literature pertaining to their use in fleshy fruits remains scarce. This review presents, for the first time, the knowledge developed over the last decade on the role of BR preharvest treatments in crop yield and fruit quality properties at harvest and during storage, although information about the effects of BR postharvest treatments is also addressed.

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Yellow pitahaya is a tropical fruit that has gained popularity in recent years. Natural elicitors are compounds that can stimulate the resistance and quality of fruits. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of natural elicitors, methyl salicylate (MeSa), methyl jasmonate (JaMe), salicylic acid (SA) and oxalic acid (OA) at concentrations of 0.

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Spain is a great producer of organic lemon; however, it is necessary to reduce the losses caused by post-harvest diseases. Melatonin (MEL) is a naturally occurring compound with physiological functions in fruit growth and ripening and is able to modulate postharvest ripening and senescence, most of it being concentrated in climacteric fruit. Thus, the aim of this study was to apply MEL to organic lemon fruit with stems and leaves (LEAF) and to organic lemon without those components (LEAFLESS) after harvesting and storage during 21 days at 2 °C to understand the effects of this treatment on the fruit quality.

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