Quality changes of pomegranate arils throughout shelf life affected by deficit irrigation and pre-processing storage María E. Peña-Estévez a,b , Francisco Artés-Hernández a,b , Francisco Artés a,b , Encarna Aguayo a,b , Ginés Benito Martínez-Hernández a,b , Alejandro Galindo c , Perla A. Gómez b,⇑ a Postharvest and Refrigeration Group, Department of Food Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 48, 30203 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain b Institute of Plant Biotechnology, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Campus Muralla del Mar, 30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain c Irrigation Department, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CSIC), P.O. Box 164, E-30100 Espinardo, Murcia, Spain article info Article history: Received 8 July 2013 Received in revised form 18 September 2015 Accepted 16 April 2016 Available online 18 April 2016 Chemical compounds studied in this article: Ascorbic acid (PUbChem CID: 54670067) Dehydroascorbic acid (PUbChem CID: 440667) Cyanidin 3,5-diglucoside (PUbChem CID: 441688) Cyanidin 3-O-glucoside (PUbChem CID: 441667) Delphinidin-3,5-diglucoside (PUbChem CID: 10100906) Delphinidin-3-O-glucoside (PUbChem CID: 443650) Pelargonidin-3,5-di glucoside (PUbChem CID: 441772) Pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside (PUbChem CID: 443648) Chlorogenic acid (PUbChem CID: 1794427) P-coumaric acid (PUbChem CID: 1549106) Keywords: Minimally processed Phenolics Anthocyanins Vitamin C Antioxidants Sugars abstract This study investigated the influence of sustained deficit irrigation (SDI, 78% less water supply than the reference evapotranspiration, ET 0 ) compared to a control (100% ET 0 ) on the physicochemical and sensory qualities and health-promoting compounds of pomegranate arils stored for 14 days at 5 °C. Prior to pro- cessing, the fruits were stored for 0, 30, 60 or 90 days at 5 °C. The effect of the pre-processing storage duration was also examined. Physicochemical and sensory qualities were kept during the storage period. Arils from SDI fruit had lower punicalagin-a and ellagic acid losses than the control (13% vs 50%). However, the anthocyanin content decreased during the shelf-life (72%) regardless of the treatment. The ascorbic acid slight decreased. Arils from SDI experienced glucose/fructose ratio loss (19%) lower than that of the control (35%). In general, arils from SDI showed better quality and health attributes during the shelf-life than did the control samples. Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The health-promoting properties of pomegranate fruits (Punica granatum L.) have been well known in the folk medicine of many cultures since ancient times. Currently, the major cultivation areas of pomegranate are located in India, Spain, Israel and the United States, where it has gained great economic relevance due to its increased consumption. Pomegranate fruit is rich in many nutri- tional and bioactive compounds, comprising organic acids, minerals (such as potassium), vitamins (C, A, and K) and folic acid (among others). However, the most valuable aspect of pomegranate is its http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.04.054 0308-8146/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: perla.gomez@upct.es (P.A. Gómez). Food Chemistry 209 (2016) 302–311 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem