Effect of 1-MCP and short-term high CO2 postharvest treatments on plum (Prunus domestica spp. domestica) quality during shelf-life at room temperature
Ronghua Wang, Haibo Xuan and Josef Streif
Abstracts Book, 6th International Postharvest symposium, 8-12 April 2009, Antalya, Turkey. 256 pages.
2009
บทคัดย่อ
Prunus is a very heterogeneous plant family with a partially different ripening behaviour observed between European (P. domestica)and Japanese (P. salicina)plums. Cultivars of P. salicina normally show a climacterical ripening behaviour with a characteristic increase in respiration and ethylene formation. Japanese plums are generally firmer and react to high CO2 treatments in CA-conditions and/or to 1-MCP application with improved storability. On the other hand, P. domestica cultivars are mostly non-climacteric ripening types with smaller and softer fruit and more limited storability. Between both ripening types there are some cultivars that exhibit a transitional position with no clearly defined ripening behaviour concerning respiration changes or ethylene formation. This work tests the effects of 1-MCP and short-term high CO2 treatments applied at room temperature on plum quality during shelf life of two European plum (P. d. spp. domestica)cultivars ‘Hanita’ and ‘Elena’ harvested at different ripening stages. ‘Hanita’ behaved as a climacteric fruit, since the 1-MCP treatment inhibited respiration rates and ethylene formation during the early ripening pre-climacteric stages, and slowed down fruit softening during shelf life at room temperature. On the contrary, ‘Elena’ behaved as a ‘suppressed’ climacteric fruit, in which there were no obvious ethylene or respiration peaks measured during shelf-life at room temperature. Short-term exposure to high CO2 did not have any effect in extending the shelf-life of ‘Elena’ plums, but accelerated the deterioration of ‘Hanita’.