Cell wall modifications during storage: Changes in the texture behavior of the canned yellow peach

Textural changes in canned yellow peach (CYP) soaked in a concentrated sucrose syrup that led to softening during storage were always accompanied by the depolymerization of the cell wall, as the result of the cell wallmodifying enzymes. In this study, we evaluated the changes in texture, pectin fractions (namely, WEP, CEP and AEP) and pectinase activities (namely, PME and PG) during storage. Results showed that the undoubted decrease in Gal contents of all pectin fractions (-44.16%, -36.98% and - 66.59% declines in WEP, CPE and AEP, respectively) were observed as well as the reduced texture properties. Specially, the hardness, chewiness and resilience of CYP dramatically decreased at the first 40 days-storage. Upon the storage, PG activities were significantly facilitated, while PME activities were markedly inhibited. Together with the results of molar mass and monosaccharide composition, sucrose syrup could promote the conversion and depolymerization in HG region of AEP fraction. Moreover, sugar ratio analysis and 13C NMR spectroscopy also illustrated the changes in pectin structures, contributing to the texture softening of CYP, which was confirmed by the gradual depolymerization and solubilization in HG regions of all the pectin fractions.