Kawaraketsumei is an annual legume whose dried and roasted leaves, stems, and pods are consumed as a healthy tea. Noheji town in Aomori prefecture is promoting the tea as a specialty product of local area. It is known to contain various polyphenols. However, it is unclear whether the kawaraketsumei tea, that is the HWIK (hot water infusion of kawaraketsumei) has antioxidant activity as oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), and whether it contains polyphenols, especially luteolin. In this study, we investigated hydrophilic-ORAC (H-ORAC) and the total polyphenol, luteolin content in the HWIK (blend of each parts and part-specific). The H-ORAC value was calculated from HWIK, indicating that it has antioxidant activity. Additionally, the HWIK contained polyphenols. It was also found that contained luteolin and luteolin 7-O-glucoside, a glycoside of luteolin. Although all the parameters were not significantly different between the blend ratios, the pod had the highest antioxidant activity and concentrations of polyphenols. These results are expected to lead to the development of processing method and usage utilizing the characteristics of kawaraketsumei.

　Bell pepper quality is typically maintained by storage at low temperatures. However, the environment for bell pepper storage during practical postharvest handling still needs to be optimized. Therefore, in this study, an investigation of ripening behavior and related molecular changes of bell peppers stored at various temperatures for 28 days was conducted. Bell pepper fruits were harvested at the mature green stage and held in unsealed polypropylene pouches at 10, 20, or 30 ℃ in the dark. The pericarp color value of the bell peppers confirmed the ripening initiation after 28 days of storage at higher temperatures. An earlier color change was observed on the opposite end of the fruit from the calyx. A gene expression profile plot obtained by RNA-Seq data using microarray data analysis software clearly showed the effects of storage temperature on the gene expression profile. A principal component analysis using two components showed a clear difference among treatments, (storage temperatures). The effects of fruit section, (top, middle, or bottom) on gene expression were minor compared with those of storage temperature. Four genes showing distinctive expression patterns among samples were selected, and genes with expression patterns highly similar to those of these four genes were selected and grouped. An overlap analysis of the four groups was conducted using a Venn diagram. There was considerable overlap between Group1 (upregulation genes at both 20 and 30 ℃) and Group2 (upregulation genes at 30 ℃), which showed increasing trends at higher storage temperatures. There was almost no overlap among the other groups, suggesting that these groupings reflect the different biological statuses affected by storage temperature.

　Postharvest sweetening can improve the quality of sweet potatoes. Although exposure to low temperature has been observed to increase sweetness, sweet potatoes are susceptible to chilling injury (CI). Therefore, an effective method to increase sweetness without causing CI is necessary. Tuberous roots of the sweet potato "Naruto-Kintoki" were subjected to heat treatment followed by low-temperature conditioning prior to exposure to chilling stress under cold storage at 5 ℃ for 30 days. Following chilling stress, the roots were incubated at 20 ℃ for 20 days. External and internal deterioration induced by chilling was evaluated and total soluble solids were analyzed. The results showed that the combination of heat treatment at 40 ℃ for 2 days and stepwise low-temperature conditioning of 1 ℃ per day from 10 - 5 ℃ enhanced sweetness and chilling tolerance. Therefore, storage at low temperature following pre-storage temperature manipulations is a feasible approach for increasing sweetness and reducing CI of Naruto-Kintoki tuberous roots.