Effect of Combined Pulsed Magnetic Field and Cold Water Shock Treatment on the Preservation of Cucumbers During Postharvest Storage

The aim of this study was to evaluate the combined effect of pulsed magnetic field (PMF) and cold water shock pretreatment on the quality of postharvest cucumbers. Cucumbers were immersed into cold water at 0.5 °C with PMF for 40 min and then stored at 6 °C for 13 days. Different levels of the PMF (0.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 6.0 mT) were applied with a frequency of 25 Hz. The results showed that combined pretreatments of PMF and cold water possessed better preservation quality and prolonged their shelf life. When the magnetic flux density of PMF was 4.0 mT, the color change and decay rate of samples were the lowest and decreased by 52.8% and 73% at 13 days. The preservation mechanism of combined PMF and cold water may be ascribed to triggering higher catalase activity, which induced higher membrane integrity that displayed lower malondialdehyde accumulation.