Resumo

ALVAREZ-HERRERA, JAVIER GIOVANNI; ROZO-ROMERO, XIMENA  e  REYES, ANDREA JOHANA. Effect of ethylene on postharvest behavior of plum fruits (Prunus salicina Lindl.) at four stages of maturity. rev.colomb.cienc.hortic. [online]. 2015, vol.9, n.1, pp.46-59. ISSN 2011-2173.  https://doi.org/10.17584/rcch.2015v9i1.3745.

The application of ethylene is commonly used on fruits to standardize the color and accelerate ripening, which improves the appearance and organoleptic characteristics. Therefore, Horvin variety plum fruits were collected in four maturity stages (2, 3, 4 and 5) and treated with ethylene, commercially known as ethrel, in doses of 100 mL L^-1. The experimental design was completely randomized with four treatments (corresponding to the states of maturity), with 4 replicates each, for a total of 16 experimental units, each consisting of approximately 400 g of fruit. Every three days, the variables of color, weight loss, respiratory intensity, firmness, pH, total titratable acidity (TTA) and total soluble solids (TSS) were measured. The measurements were taken until the fruits lost organoleptic quality. For the variable of weight loss, firmness, TSS, pH and TTA, there were no significant differences in most of the sampling points between the treatments. However, there were significant differences for color between the treatments. As for the respiration intensity and maturity index at the end of the measurements, significant differences were observed, obtaining the highest values in maturity stage 5 and lower values in stages 3 and 2. Therefore, the use of ethylene on plum fruits is beneficial because it favors a change in color and the maturity ratio increases, thus assuring uniformity in storage between the stages of maturity.

Palavras-chave : respiratory intensity; firmness; color; total soluble solids.

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