## 3 Results
### Relationship between Fruit Quality Parameters  
Among the 45 pair-variables, Pearson's correlation coefficients of 23 and 9 pair-variables correlated significantly (at \(p<0.05\)) in both chemical (MeJA and SA) treatments, respectively (Tables 2 and 3). Among these significantly pair-variables, six pair-variables were significant in both the MeJA and the SA. Among these six pair-variables, four were correlated positively (FD versus (vs.) CI, PAL vs. CAT,  
Figure 2: Effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA; 0.2 mmol L\({}^{-1}\)) and salicylic acid (SA, 2 mmol L\({}^{-1}\)) on phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase activity (CAT) in cv. ‘Bergarouge’ in cold storage (CS) treatments (**A**,**C**,**E**,**G**) at 1 \({}^{\circ}\)C on the assessment days 7, 14 and 21, and in shelf-life (SL) treatments (**B**,**D**,**F**,**H**) at 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C on the assessment days 4 and 8. Other information is given in Figure 1 (symbols, error bars and LSD\({}_{0.05}\) values). PAL vs. SOD, and total antioxidant content vs. SOD) and two negatively (total antioxidant content vs. FD and ascorbic acid content vs. CI), indicating connections among fruit quality loss, antioxidant parameters and enzyme activities (Tables 2 and 3). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline  & **CI** & **FD** & **CAT** & **SOD** & **POD** & **PAL** & **AAC** & **TCC** & **TSPC** \\ \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**FD a**} & **0.967 b,c** & & & & & & & & \\  & **-0.001** & & & & & & & & \\  & \(-0.315\) & \(-0.423\) & & & & & & & \\  & \(>\)0.1 & \(>\)0.1 & & & & & & & \\  & **0.013** & **0.014** & \(>\)0.1 & & & & & & \\ POD & 0.604 & **0.732** & \(\mathbf{-0.766}\) & 0.331 & & & & & \\  & 0.079 & **0.035** & \(\mathbf{0.027}\) & \(>\)0.1 & & & & & \\ PAL & 0.273 & 0.124 & **0.699** & **0.697** & \(-0.440\) & & & & \\  & \(>\)0.1 & \(>\)0.1 & **0.047** & **0.048** & \(>\)0.1 & & & & \\
**AAC** & \(\mathbf{-0.829}\) & \(\mathbf{-0.776}\) & \(-0.129\) & \(\mathbf{-0.921}\) & \(-0.241\) & \(-0.641\) & & & \\  & **0.011** & **0.024** & \(>\)0.1 & \(\mathbf{<0.001}\) & \(>\)0.1 & 0.068 & & & \\ TCC & \(-0.668\) & \(-0.601\) & \(-0.194\) & \(\mathbf{-0.825}\) & \(-0.108\) & \(-0.689\) & \(\mathbf{0.772}\) & & \\  & 0.059 & 0.080 & \(>\)0.1 & **0.012** & \(>\)0.1 & 0.051 & **0.025** & & \\
**TSPC** & \(\mathbf{-0.904}\) & \(\mathbf{-0.799}\) & \(-0.012\) & \(\mathbf{-0.850}\) & \(-0.294\) & \(-0.592\) & **0.900** & **0.747** & \\  & **0.001** & **0.016** & \(>\)0.1 & **0.008** & \(>\)0.1 & 0.082 & **0.001** & **0.032** & \\
**TAC** & \(\mathbf{-0.963}\) & \(\mathbf{-0.959}\) & 0.323 & **0.874** & \(-0.600\) & \(-0.290\) & **0.843** & **0.724** & **0.863** \\  & **<0.001** & **<0.001** & \(>\)0.1 & **0.004** & 0.080 & \(>\)0.1 & **0.009** & **0.040** & **0.005** \\ \hline \end{tabular}  
* Fruit quality parameters: CI = chilling injury index, FD = fruit decay index, CAT = catalase activity, SOD = superoxide dismutase activity, POD = peroxidase activity, PAL = phenylalanine ammonia-ylase activity, AAC = ascorbic acid content, TCC = total carotenoid content, TSPC = total soluble phenol content and TAC = total antioxidant capacity. b The significant (\(p<0.05\)) correlation coefficient values are in bold. \({}^{\ast}\)\(n=20\)  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Pearson correlation coefficients (_r_) and corresponding significance levels (_p_) amongst 10 fruit quality parameters in the methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatments (0.2 mmol L\({}^{-1}\)) on cv. ‘Bergarouge’ apricot. Data were combined for the assessment dates of days 7, 14 and 21 of cold storage (CS) and for the assessment dates of days 4 and 8 of shelf-life (SL) treatment.