Abstract

UNIGARRO, CARLOS ANDRÉS; FLOREZ, CLAUDIA PATRICIA; OLIVEROS, CARLOS EUGENIO  and  CANON, MYRIAM. Effects of four ethylene inhibitors on the ripening of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) fruits during the pre-harvest period. rev.colomb.cienc.hortic. [online]. 2018, vol.12, n.2, pp.500-507. ISSN 2011-2173.  https://doi.org/10.17584/rcch.2018vl2i2.7667.

The natural ripening process in climacteric fruits can be modified by intervening in the mechanisms of ethylene action, either pre-harvest or post-harvest. In some fruits, ethylene inhibitors retard development. In this research, the effect of four ethylene inhibitors on the development of coffee fruits during the pre-harvest period was evaluated. At the Paraguaicito Experiment Station of Cenicafé (04°23' N and 75°44' W, Quindío, Colombia) with a coffee crop of the Castillo® Paraguaicito variety, 12 treatments were carried out with four ethylene inhibitors [potassium acetate (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0% P/V), aminooxyacetic acid (1, 5 and 10 mg L-1), salicylic acid (1, 5 and 10 mM) and aminoethoxy-vinyl-glycine (25, 50 y 100 μg L-1)] at three different doses, in addition to an absolute control, using a randomized complete block design. The inhibitors were applied 1 week before the harvest peak, and, 4 weeks later, the variables cherry coffee production, fruit weight, dropped fruits and percentages of immature, early ripe, ripe, and overmature fruits were evaluated. This was done in the main harvest of 2016 and the secondary harvest of 2017. In the main harvest, the treatments aminoethoxy-vinyl-glycine (100 μg L-1) and salicylic acid (1 mM) delayed the ripening process by reducing the percentage of overmature fruits by between 16.0 and 16.6% and by increasing the percentage of ripe fruits by between 12.8 and 14.3%, with respect to the absolute control. In the secondary harvest, the treatments and the control did not differ significantly in any of the evaluated variables.

Keywords : fruit development; retardant; acid salicylic; aminoethyoxy-vinyl-glycine.

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