UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF ETHYLENE IN PEACH COLD STORAGE LIFE

Recently, Australians (Wills et al., 1999) demonstrated that ethylene removal at very low levels (5 ppb) was beneficial for some non-climacteric fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, there is limited information on the role of ethylene on decay and peach, nectarine and plum storage performance during cold storage/shipment. If tree fruit are sensitive to ethylene, it implies that they should be stored at the production and retail points, and during transportation in an ethylene-free environment. The goal of this work is to understand the role of ethylene in tree fruit postharvest life.