## 3 Results
### SA Application Decreases Total Anthocyanins and Cyanidin-3-Rutinoside Contents  
In year 1, TAN (expressed as c-3-rut) ranged from 53 (C0 of fruit treated with SA at 2 mM) to 221 ug g\({}^{-1}\) dw (controls in C2) (Figure 3a). In the C2 class, TAN was reduced by increasing SA concentration. In C0 and C1 classes, both SA concentrations (1 and 2 mM) reduced TAN, reaching similar levels in comparison to controls. The concentration effect in each category was significant (\(p_{sa}\) < 0.001) (Table 2). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline
**Concentration** & **Weight** & \(L^{*}\) & \(h^{\circ}\) & **C*** & **TSS** & **TAN** \\
**(mM)** & **(g)** & & & & (C*Brix) & **(ug g\({}^{-1}\) dw)** \\ \hline
0 & 62.72 \(\pm\) 3.64 a & 54.66 \(\pm\) 1.70 a & 99.39 \(\pm\) 2.50 b & 31.29 \(\pm\) 1.70 b & 17.4 \(\pm\) 0.70 b & 215.3 \(\pm\) 69.35 a \\
2 & 65.15 \(\pm\) 4.52 a & 55.56 \(\pm\) 2.80 a & 109.59 \(\pm\) 3.42 a & 39.52 \(\pm\) 3.02 a & 19.0 \(\pm\) 0.10 a & 45.37 \(\pm\) 9.46 b \\ \hline \(p_{tr}\) & NS & NS & * & * & * & * \\ \hline \end{tabular}  
* All data presented are means \(\pm\) standard deviation (n = 3). Values with different letters showed statistically significant differences (\(\alpha\) = 0.05) according to Tukey-HSD test. *, \(p\) < 0.05; NS, non-significant.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Changes in fruit weight, \(L^{*}\), \(h^{\circ}\), C*, total soluble solids (TSS), and TAN in cracking categories of fig flesh after preharvest treatment with salicylic acid (SA), in year 2. Categories: C0, sound fruit; C3, slightly or highly cracked. Figure 2: Changes in color parameters \(L^{*}\) (**a**), \(h^{\circ}\) (**b**), and \(C^{*}\) (**c**) in cracking categories of fig peel after preharvest treatment with different concentrations of salicylic acid (SA), in year 1. Categories: C0, sound fruit; C1, slightly cracked; C2, highly cracked. All data presented are means (n = 3); bars are standard deviations. Columns not sharing a common letter are significantly different by Tukey test (\(\alpha\) = 0.05). Lowercase letters correspond to one-way ANOVA in each cracking category; capital letters correspond to one-way ANOVA of all data. Overall data analysis showed that the highest TAN in C2 controls was followed by C1 and C2 of fruit treated with SA (1 mM), and this effect was significant (\(p_{all}<0.001\)). Indeed, a considerable increase in TAN was observed in controls by advanced cracking, whereas increasing the SA concentration in C2 progressively reduced TAN. In year 2, TAN was 215 \(\upmu\)g g\({}^{-1}\) dw and 45 \(\upmu\)g g\({}^{-1}\) dw in controls and SA treated-fruit, respectively (Table 3). The SA concentration effect was significant at \(p_{sat}<0.05\) (Table 3), confirming the negative effect of SA application on TAN content. The c-3-rut (the major anthocyanin in fig) content was also individually determined, and exhibited a pattern very similar to that of TAN (Figure 3b). The lowest c-3-rut value of 41 \(\upmu\)g g\({}^{-1}\) dw was observed in fruit treated with SA (2 mM) in C0 and the highest value of 186 \(\upmu\)g\({}^{-1}\) dw in controls in C2. The effect of SA concentration on c-3-rut content was significant in each category, C0, C1, and C2, at \(p_{sat}<0.001\), \(p_{sat}<0.001\), and \(p_{sat}<0.01\), respectively. Controls had the highest c-3-rut content in each category. In addition, c-3-rut content was advanced by cracking. Indeed, all data analyzed together confirmed that controls in C2 obtained the highest value followed by controls in C1 and fruit treated with SA (1 mM) in C2. These differences were significant (\(p_{all}<0.001\); Table 2). Expression Analysis of Genes Coding for Regulatory Enzymes of the Phenylpropanol Biosynthetic Pathway  
In C0, SA application (1 and 2 mM) promoted the _PAL_ transcription levels, and this effect was more prominent at 1 mM (Figure 4a). In C1, SA application did not affect PAL transcription. In C2, SA application (1 mM) increased the _PAL_ transcription levels.