Effects of ethephon on the respiration and ethylene evolution of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) fruit at different development stages

Abstract

Abstract The role of ethylene on sweet cherry ( Prunus avium L.) fruit respiration was studied at three stages of development. An ethylene-releasing compound, ethephon [(2-chloroethyl)phosphonic acid], was applied at concentrations from 10 to 1000 ppm to straw-, pink- and mahogany-colored fruits. Depending upon the ethephon concentration applied, rates of ethylene evolution as high 6 μl C 2 H 4 kg fruit −1 h −1 were detected. Ethylene evolution was undetectable from untreated, mature fruits. Fruit respiration rates declined at all stages, regardless of the rate of ethylene evolved. Ethephon did not affect the firmness of mature, mahogany-colored sweet cherry fruit. These results confirm that sweet cherry fruit are nonclimacteric because untreated fruit produced neither respiratory nor ethylene peaks near maturity. Respiration was not stimulated in the presence of exogenous ethylene during these later stages of sweet cherry fruit development, as it is in other nonclimacteric fruits.