Postharvest Biology and Technology 111 (2016) 69–76 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Postharvest Biology and Technology jou rn al h om epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/postharvbio Postharvest quality, soluble phenols, betalains content, and antioxidant activity of Stenocereus pruinosus and Stenocereus stellatus fruit Leticia García-Cruz a , Salvador Valle-Guadarrama a,∗ , Yolanda Salinas-Moreno b , César del Carmen Luna-Morales a a Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Mexico-Texcoco km 38.5, Texcoco de Mora 56230, Mexico, Mexico b Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Tepatitlán-Lagos de Moreno km 8, Tepatitlán de Morelos, Jalisco, Mexico a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 3 April 2015 Received in revised form 8 July 2015 Accepted 10 July 2015 Keywords: Stenocereus pruinosus Stenocereus stellatus Pitaya fruit Postharvest behavior a b s t r a c t Fruit of the Stenocereus genus have good acceptance and high potential in the fresh fruit market. However, their use is limited to regional production areas due to they are highly perishable and the postharvest behavior has not been studied. The objective of the work was to characterize morphological, physio- logical, physical, and chemically, red and orange fruit of Stenocereus pruinosus, and red and white fruit of Stenocereus stellatus in postharvest. Storage during 10 d at 24 ◦ C was carried out and shelf life was estimated in six days. Respiration rate suggested non-climacteric behavior. Color, acidity, pH, soluble phenols content, and betalains content distinguished fruit. These variables, besides total soluble solids, remained without significant changes throughout the storage period, but weight loss, firmness, and total sugar content experimented modification. Antioxidant activity was highest in red fruit. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Pitaya is the name of species of the Stenocereus genus, which develop as columnar cacti in arid and semi-arid areas, such as those located at the Rio Balsas basin and Tehuacan Valley in the central region of Mexico. In addition to fruit consumption, these plants are used as building materials, fodder, living fences, and fuel (Parra et al., 2008). Important commercial species are included in this genus, like Stenocereus queretaroensis (F. A. C. Weber) Buxbaum, Stenocereus griseus (Haworth) Buxbaum, Steno- cereus pruinosus (Otto) Buxbaum, and Stenocereus stellatus (Pfeiffer) Riccobono (García-Suárez et al., 2007), whose fruit have weight ranging from 20 to 200 g and have palatable flesh with different tonalities, with small, soft and edible seeds, and also with deciduous spines on the epidermis. S. pruinosus and S. stellatus have several aspects that need to be attended. The harvest index is not well defined and produc- ers take into account the color change, the epidermis brightness, and detachment of spines for cutting fruit. Furthermore, shelf life is short and it is reported that varies between four and five ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 595 952 1629; fax: +52 595 952 1629. E-mail address: svalleg@taurus.chapingo.mx (S. Valle-Guadarrama). days (Armella et al., 2003). Pitaya fruit exhibit attractive col- ors in skin and flesh, which is derived from betalains presence (Kimler et al., 1970). In the case of S. pruinosus, García-Cruz et al. (2013) found that betalains and phenolic compounds con- fer fruit high antioxidant activity at harvest, but characteristics during postharvest life are unknown. With respect to S. stella- tus, reports describing such properties in fruit have not been published. Currently, public and private institutions recognize the need to promote consumption of fruit and vegetables (Nepal et al., 2012; Pivonka et al., 2011), due to the observed benefit of ingesting phy- tonutrients that can mitigate the oxidative stress caused by the overproduction of free radicals (Wang et al., 2011), which reduce the risk of several sickness like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer (Wootton-Beard and Ryan, 2011). Consequently, it is necessary, first, to identify plant sources that can provide the type of phytonutrients mentioned and, secondly, to characterize in them changes that occur naturally during postharvest life, in order to have elements that support the development of technologies to preserve the potential use of plant products. In that context, the objective of the work was to characterize morphological, physio- logical, physical, and chemically, fruit of red and orange variants of S. pruinosus, and fruit of red and white variants of S. stellatus in postharvest. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2015.07.004 0925-5214/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.