The harvest period of mangosteen fruit can be extended by chemical control of ripening—A proof of concept study

Abstract

Mangosteen is an economically important crop in Southeast Asia. However, the harvest period of mangosteen fruit is rather short and effective methods to expand the harvest period and lessen the peak workload are desirable. We investigated the preharvest applications of ethephon or 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) for their effects on harvest date, ethylene production, and mangosteen fruit quality. 1-MCP is available as tablets that we applied on fruit as a sprayed solution as well as by fumigation, respectively.The ripening of mangosteen fruit was significantly affected by the treatments, so that harvest date was advanced to an earlier time with ethephon and delayed to a later time by 1-MCP when using color development to guide harvest (at stage 0, pericarp uniformly yellowish-white or with a light green tinge or grayish spotting). The induced changes of harvest time are each of the order one to two weeks. The effectiveness of these chemicals is associated with the maturity stage of intact fruit. The increase period of ethylene production occurs concomitantly with unchanged fruit weight at its stationary phase of development. However, the ethylene production of harvested fruit was not affected by the treatments. The preharvest application of ethephon or 1-MCP, at climacteric maturity of fruit, has potential use in altering the harvest period of mangosteen products to earlier or later dates.