Gaseous chlorine dioxide improves post-ripened quality of Keitt mango: enhancing mango sugar accumulation, terpene biosynthesis, and storage performance

Keitt mango (Mangifera indica L.) is commonly harvested at full-sized, mature green, and ripens naturally after a few days at room temperature, which leaves the fruit lacking in desirable sweetness and mango flavor. To improve the quality of post harvest ripened Keitt mangoes, gaseous chlorine dioxide was applied. The results showed that gaseous ClO2 treatment significantly increased the content of melibiose, glucose, mannose, and arabinose in mango pulp, with the highest multiplicative increase in glucose, compared to the control and ethephon groups. Moreover, the quality attributes of gaseous ClO2 ripened mangoes were superior to those of ethephon. These findings suggest that gaseous ClO2 effectively enhances sugar accumulation and flavour development in mangoes, and yields superior storage quality, presenting significant application potential.