Quantifying the ethylene induced softening and low temperature breakdown of ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit in storage

• DOI: 10.1016/j.postharvbio.2015.11.002
• Publication Date: 2015-11-22T04:02:04Z
• Authors: Abdul Jabbar; Andrew R. East
• Keywords: 0404 agricultural biotechnology; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences

Abstract Kiwifruit are considered highly sensitive to exogenous ethylene during refrigerated storage (0 °C). This study aimed to quantifiably describe the effect of continuous application of exogenous ethylene (0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 1 μL L−1) in the storage environment (0 °C, 95% RH) on quality (softening and low temperature breakdown; LTB) of ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit when exposed either after harvest or after 10 weeks of storage. For both ethylene application times fruit exposed to 1 and 0.1 μL L−1 ethylene exhibited significant loss of firmness compared to control (0.001 μL L−1) after 2 weeks of application. Fruit exposed to 0.01 μL L−1 ethylene also softened rapidly compared to control fruit (0.001 μL L−1) when ethylene was applied at-harvest, but no substantial difference in softening was observed when applied after 10 weeks of storage. Most of the softening differentiation occurred in the first 4 weeks of exposure, after which the rates of softening returned to being relatively constant irrespective of the ethylene environment. Along with rapid softening, fruit exposed to 1 μL L−1 ethylene were higher in incidence of LTB, irrespective of exposure timing. This study demonstrates that ethylene concentrations as low as 0.01 μL L−1 can influence softening of ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit in a commercial cool storage environment. As the differentiation of treatments occurs solely in the initial period of ethylene exposure, more research is required to understand the impact of small exposure occasions, which are more likely to occur in real supply chain scenarios.