Ethylene-forming capacity during cold storage and chilling injury development in ‘Keitt’ mango fruit

Abstract

Abstract The capacity to convert ACC into ethylene in ‘Keitt’ mango fruit peel was influenced by storage temperature. At harvest, ACC-treated peel discs produced about 10-fold more ethylene than untreated peel discs. Ethylene production rates of untreated peel discs prepared from fruits stored at 0, 2, 5, 14 and 20 °C were around 10 nl g −1 h −1 or lower, during the whole 4-week storage period. At all storage temperatures ACC-induced ethylene production declined with time, and after 2 weeks it fell almost to the level of ethylene production of the untreated discs. When fruits were transferred to storage at 20 °C after 2 weeks at the various temperatures, it appeared that the transient capacity to convert ACC to ethylene after rewarming was maintained at low storage temperatures and lost at the higher temperatures. After 4 weeks of storage, at all the different temperatures, no significant capacity to convert added ACC to ethylene was observed upon removal of the fruit to shelf-life conditions. It appears that this capacity in mango fruit peel was maintained at storage temperatures which cause delay in ripening as well as chilling injury to the peel. Changes in the ability to convert ACC to ethylene in the peel were not related to changes in ripening parameters in the fruit pulp.