TY - JOUR
T1 - Ripening behaviour and responses to propylene in four cultivars of Japanese type plums
AU - Abdi, N.
AU - Holford, P.
AU - McGlasson, W. B.
AU - Mizrahi, Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank to Sean Lonergan and family for access to their orchard and for providing some of the fruit used in this study. We would also like to thank Gary Morgan for technical support throughout the project, Tony Haigh for his help in the statistical analysis and preparation of the graphs and Heather Nonhebel for her criticism of this manuscript. This study was partially funded by a grant (SF602) from the Horticultural Research and Development Corporation. Nasser Abdi was supported by a scholarship from the Iranian government.
PY - 1997/8/1
Y1 - 1997/8/1
N2 - The aim of this study was to determine the physicochemical changes in highly coloured cultivars of plums that could be used as a guide to assessing optimum harvest maturity. The patterns of fruit growth and maturation were investigated in the cultivars: Gulfruby, Beauty, Shiro and Rubyred. Changes in the rates of respiration and ethylene production, skin colour, firmness, soluble solids concentration and titratable acidity were recorded at intervals from pit-hardening until the fruit were tree ripe. In order to evaluate the role of ethylene in the ripening process, propylene was applied to harvested fruit. Internal ethylene concentrations in the cv. Rubyred were also measured at intervals after pit-hardening either in harvested fruit or fruit attached to the tree. Studies of the changes in the physiological parameters associated with ripening showed that none were suitable for the assessment of harvest maturity in all cultivars of plums. However, this analysis revealed two distinct patterns of ripening behaviour in the cultivars studied. Gulfruby and Beauty showed a typical climacteric pattern of development, whilst Shiro and Rubyred exhibited a suppressed-climacteric phenotype. This phenotype appears to result from an inability of the fruit to produce sufficient quantities of ethylene to coordinate ripening. However, treatment with propylene showed that fruit displaying the suppressed-climacteric phenotype should still be placed in the climacteric class. This suppressed-climacteric character could be incorporated into plum breeding programs to produce new varieties with improved storage properties.
AB - The aim of this study was to determine the physicochemical changes in highly coloured cultivars of plums that could be used as a guide to assessing optimum harvest maturity. The patterns of fruit growth and maturation were investigated in the cultivars: Gulfruby, Beauty, Shiro and Rubyred. Changes in the rates of respiration and ethylene production, skin colour, firmness, soluble solids concentration and titratable acidity were recorded at intervals from pit-hardening until the fruit were tree ripe. In order to evaluate the role of ethylene in the ripening process, propylene was applied to harvested fruit. Internal ethylene concentrations in the cv. Rubyred were also measured at intervals after pit-hardening either in harvested fruit or fruit attached to the tree. Studies of the changes in the physiological parameters associated with ripening showed that none were suitable for the assessment of harvest maturity in all cultivars of plums. However, this analysis revealed two distinct patterns of ripening behaviour in the cultivars studied. Gulfruby and Beauty showed a typical climacteric pattern of development, whilst Shiro and Rubyred exhibited a suppressed-climacteric phenotype. This phenotype appears to result from an inability of the fruit to produce sufficient quantities of ethylene to coordinate ripening. However, treatment with propylene showed that fruit displaying the suppressed-climacteric phenotype should still be placed in the climacteric class. This suppressed-climacteric character could be incorporated into plum breeding programs to produce new varieties with improved storage properties.
KW - Ethylene
KW - Propylene
KW - Prunus spp
KW - Suppressed-climacteric
KW - Tree effect
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0030804067&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0925-5214(97)00041-0
DO - 10.1016/S0925-5214(97)00041-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0030804067
SN - 0925-5214
VL - 12
SP - 21
EP - 34
JO - Postharvest Biology and Technology
JF - Postharvest Biology and Technology
IS - 1
ER -