Effects of 1‐Methylcyclopropene and Hot Water Quarantine Treatment on Quality of “Keitt” Mangos

Abstract

The optimal 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment to slow ripening of whole "Keitt" mangos, either alone or in combination with hot water treatment (HWT) (prior to or post 1-MCP) was identified. USDA-APHIS mandates that HWT can be used for control of fruit flies, but this may affect fruit response to 1-MCP. Mangos were evaluated by repeated measurement of nondestructive firmness, peel color, and ethylene production on the same mango fruits during 2 wk of ripening at 20 °C after treatment. The magnitude of ethylene production increased as a result of both 1-MCP and HWT. With softer mangos (65 N), treatment with 1-MCP alone delayed fruit softening and extended the number of days to full-ripeness (25 N) from 5 d in untreated fruit to 11 d. For these riper fruit, application of 1-MCP prior to HWT extended the days to full-ripeness to 9 d compared with 7 d when 1-MCP was applied after HWT. With firmer mangos (80 N), 1-MCP treatments alone prolonged the days to full-ripeness to 13 d as compared to 11 d for the untreated fruit. There was no significant concentration effect on firmness retention among 1-MCP treatments (0.5, 1.0, or 10.0 μL/L). HWT resulted in a faster rate of fruit softening, taking only 7 d to reach full-ripeness. Combining 1-MCP with HWT reduced the rate of softening compared to HWT alone, resulting in 9 to 11 d to full-ripeness. Application of 1-MCP before HWT showed a greater ability to reduce the rate of fruit softening compared with 1-MCP treatment after HWT.