). According to their respiratory patterns and ethylene production rates during ripening, fruit and vegetables are classified into two major groups, known as “climacteric” and “nonclimacteric” ( Baile, 1964 ). Climacteric fruit are those whose ripening process
elucidate the climacteric ethylene production in dudaim fruit. Although the postharvest attributes in other groups of melon such as inodorus ( C. melo Group Inodorus) and cantalupensis ( C. melo Group Cantalupensis) have been investigated extensively, the
applicable to a great number of samples. A precise way to determine the onset of the ripening process without fruit destruction is by monitoring the respiration rate or the ethylene production ( Wills et al., 1998 ). The ripening of apple, as all climacteric
Avocado is a climacteric fruit ( Eaks, 1978 ) characterized by the accumulation of oil while attached to the plant and by various potential cancer-preventing phytochemicals ( Ding et al., 2007 ). There are three known races of avocado: West Indian
To facilitate the growth of a commercial pawpaw (Asimina triloba) industry, several problems with harvest and postharvest handling of fruit need to be resolved. Pawpaw fruit ripening is characterized by an increase in soluble solids content, fl esh softening, increased volatile production, and a loss of green color intensity. Within 3 days after harvest, ethylene and respiratory climacteric peaks are clearly evident. Softening of fruit is due to the action of at least four enzymes, with the softening proceeding from the surface to the interior tissue. Fruit on a single tree can ripen over a 2-week period, creating labor problems. When immature fruit is harvested it does not ripen, even if treated with ethephon at 1000 mg·L-1 (ppm), but the use of commercially available growth regulators both pre- and postharvest warrants further study. Fruit soften very rapidly at room temperature after harvest and have a 2-to 4-day shelf life. However, we have stored pawpaw fruit for 1 month at 4 °C (39.2 °F) with little change in fruit firmness and fruit apparently continue normal ripening upon removal to ambient temperature. The optimum temperature and duration for holding fruit will need to be determined. Further extension in pawpaw storage life may be feasible with controlled or modified atmosphere storage. Although there are a number of practical problems with pawpaw harvest and postharvest storage that need to be addressed, we hope to develop recommendations for harvest and handling of fruit in the near future.
of the climacteric peak in fruit ready to harvest ( Fig. 1G and H ). This stem-end splitting can occur within as little as 2 h after the peak in ethylene, and is also found in senescent, overripe fruit in the field in ‘Vedrantais’ and snapmelon
, honeydew, casaba, crenshaw, canary, and asian melon. Among them, galia, ananas, and persian melon are in the same Reticulatus group as cantaloupe ( Shellie and Lester, 2004 ). They produce aromatic, climacteric fruit that slip from vines with an
). The onset of the ethylene climacteric in ‘Booth 8’ preceded that of respiration, beginning by day 6 at 10 °C ( Fig. 3B ). Both respiration and ethylene production peaked on day 16; maxima for 1-MCP-treated fruit were attenuated. Fig. 3. Avocado
at room temperature (22–25 °C) or while cooling the fruit at 12 °C. Results showed that 1-MCP delayed the climacteric peak and decreased ethylene production, maintained fruit firmness longer, and delayed ripening-related color changes. In spite of
) . Fruit quality depends on many variables such as cultivar, preharvest practices, climacteric conditions, maturity at harvest, harvesting methodology, and postharvest conditions ( Sousa-Gallagher et al., 2016 ). These make predicting the shelf life a