A comparison of anatomical changes between normal and chilling injury longan fruit pericarp

Abstract

The anatomy of pericarp from longan fruit (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) cv. 'Daw' has been compared between normal and chilling injury fruits. The normal pericarp thickness was 630-700 μm and consisted of three layers. The exocarp had discontinuous cuticle with many natural openings and some epidermal hairs. The subepidermal sclerenchyma layer was thick. The mesocarp had some parenchyma cells with large intercellular spaces as the main body of the pericarp. The endocarp was made up of a single thin layer of epidermal cells. Pericarp from chilling injury fruit showed flakes from the cuticle, damaged epidermal hairs and fibrous tissue on the exocarp, and damaged parenchyma cell walls appeared in the mesocarp.