Action of ethylene on postharvest of summer squash ‘Menina Brasileira’

Fernanda Ferreira de Araújo,Lucas Cavalcante da Costa,Tania Pires da Silva,Fernando Luiz Finger,Mário Puiatti

doi:10.1590/0034-737x201764040004

Fernanda Ferreira de Araújo, Lucas Cavalcante da Costa + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-737x201764040004

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Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and the physiological responses of summer squash ‘Menina Brasileira’ to ethylene. Immature fruits were harvested and placed in 20 L sealed buckets, in which ethylene was applied at concentrations of 0.1, 1.0, 10, 100, and 1000 μL L-1 for 24 h. Fruits were placed in buckets with no ethylene as a control treatment. Thereafter, the fruits were taken out of the buckets and maintained on bench, wherein on days 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8, they were evaluated regarding the accumulated fresh weight loss, soluble sugars, reducing and non-reducing sugars, starch, total chlorophyll, content of malondialdehyde, and electrolyte leakage. Fruits of summer squash ‘Menina Brasileira’ showed sensitivity to exogenous ethylene with no weight loss stimulation. Additionally, the fruits exhibited small changes in nutritional quality attributes and changes in the external fruit appearance, including decreased chlorophyll content as well as damage to cell membrane characterized by increase in malondialdehyde content and electrolyte leakage. These changes were stimulated by increasing exogenous ethylene concentration.

Highlights

The summer squash (Curcubita moschata) is originated from the American continent, more precisely in the central area of Mexico (Carmo, 2009), being an important economical plant of the Cucurbitaceae family
Researches have shown that ethylene regulates some aspects of ripening in non-climacteric fruits (Yamane et al, 2007; Paul et al, 2012; McAtee et al, 2013), which demonstrates that the literature has divergence in relation to action of ethylene on postharvest quality of nonclimacteric fruits
Weight loss for vegetables in general is in order of 3 to 6%, which are sufficient to cause a marked decline in quality (Chitarra & Chitarra, 2005)

Summary

Introduction

The summer squash (Curcubita moschata) is originated from the American continent, more precisely in the central area of Mexico (Carmo, 2009), being an important economical plant of the Cucurbitaceae family. The summer squash is a fruit that has non-climacteric respiratory pattern (Kader, 2002) In this context, the degree of response and sensitivity to ethylene are dependent on the development stage, variety, and perception by the plant organ apart of your respiratory pattern (Giovannoni & Barry, 2007; Yoo et al, 2009; McAtee et al, 2013). Researches have shown that ethylene regulates some aspects of ripening in non-climacteric fruits (Yamane et al, 2007; Paul et al, 2012; McAtee et al, 2013), which demonstrates that the literature has divergence in relation to action of ethylene on postharvest quality of nonclimacteric fruits

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