Climacteric stage, fruit ethylene

Ethylene increases rapidly but differently in the case of climacteric fruits. The maximum values for some fruits are given in Table 18.35. However, nonclimacteric fruits produce only a little ethylene (Table 18.35). This gaseous compound increases membrane permeability and thereby probably accelerates metabolism and fruit ripening. With mango fruits, for example, it has been demonstrated that before the climacteric stage, ethylene stimulates oxidative and hydrolytic enzymes (catalase, peroxidase and amylase) and inactivates inhibitors of these enzymes. 

The synthesis of endo-PG occurs in the ripening stage after an increase of ethylene production [21] and its appearance has been correlated with an increase in soluble pectin and softening [22]. Exo-PG is suggested to participate in the initiation of climacteric ethylene production [23]. Strawberry fruit has been accepted to be a non-climacteric fruit and ethylene... 

These variations in behavior indicate that harvesting melons at different stages of maturity causes subsequent biochemical events involved in amino acid accumulation to follow markedly different pathways. Recent work shows that melon fhiit harvested up to ten days before commercial maturity exhibits climacteric behavior with respect to ethylene production showing that at least this aspect of ripening is not completely inhibited by premature separation from the plant(P). However, the amount of ethylene produced is dependent on maturity at harvest and fruit harvested five days prematurely generated only about half of the amount of ethylene produced by fruit harvested two days before maturity. Also the lag time required to initiate ethylene production after harvest depended on maturity and was longer for prematurely harvested fruit. Changes in the content of the phytohormone abscisic acid were also correlated with that of ethylene. However whether the different maturity related metabolic responses observed above result from the action of these or other plant hormones awaits further study. 

Several studies on irradiation of fruits and vegetables have been conducted to delay fruit ripeness, thus, their shelf life might be extended by few days to few weeks [1]. However in some horticultural crops gamma irradiation treatments initiated the climacteric ripeness sequences by inducing the preclimacteric fruits to produce stimulatory amount of ethylene [2]. Factors most likely to affect response of fruit and vegetables to irradiation may include type of fruit (climacteric or nonclimacteric), ripeness stage at expossure, dose of irradiation and post-treatment storage conditions. 

Climacteric and nonclimacteric fruits respond differently to external ethylene (Fig. 18.10). Depending on the ethylene level, the respiratory increase sets in earlier in unripe climacteric fruits, but its height is not influenced. In contrast, in nonclimacteric fruits there is an increase in respiration rate at each ripening stage which is clearly dependent on ethylene concentration. 

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