Postharvest L-Arginine treatment reduces senescence and improves storability of sweet cherry during cold storage

• L-Arginine delayed weight loss in sweet cherries by preserving the cellular integrity. • Treated fruits exhibited decreased ripening index and enhanced antioxidant activity. • L-Arginine reduced oxidative stress and softening enzymes activities during storage. • Overall acceptability was enhanced through L-Arginine treatment. Being a non-climacteric fruit, sweet cherries exhibit rapid deterioration due to their thin pericarp and succulent tissue, which intensifies water loss and decay incidence during storage. L-arginine (L-Arg) is used as a natural preservative in fruit preservation to maintain nutritional quality, cellular integrity, increase antioxidant enzyme activities, and reduce oxidative damage in fruits during storage. Therefore, the current study was executed to evaluate the effect of pre-storage application of L-Arg on enhancing the defensive mechanism and preserving the biochemical properties of sweet cherries during low-temperature storage. For this, sweet cherries were immersed in various concentrations of L-Arg (control, 1 mM, 5 mM, and 10 mM) and stored at 4 ± 1°C for 20 days. Findings exhibited that postharvest treatment with 5 mM L-Arg had markedly suppressed the advancement in weight loss, decay incidence, total soluble solids content, and ripening index, thereby maintaining a maximum acidity content compared to control fruits. Moreover, L-Arg maintained the maximum ascorbic acid content, total phenolic content, and antioxidant scavenging activity. Sweet cherries treated with L-Arg exhibited higher antioxidant enzyme activities, such as superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase, during prolonged storage. In addition to this, L-Arg substantially inhibited the maximum synthesis of oxidative stress indicators, i.e., hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde content. L-Arg treatments also slowed down the fruit softening activities, such as cellulase, polygalacturonase, and pectin methyl esterase, thereby improving the shelf life of sweet cherries compared to non-coated ones. Results suggested that pre-storage application of L-Arg may enhance the quality and shelf life of sweet cherries by elevating the defensive mechanism, physicochemical attributes, and inhibiting cell membrane dissimilation during cold storage.