Effect of application time of 1-methylcyclopropene treatment on fruit quality attributes in 'Fuji' apples during simulated marketing period

This study was evaluated the effect of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment on fruit quality of 'Fuji' apples during shelf life condition at room temperature (RT) after cold storage. Fruits were treated with 1-MCP at 0, 1st, and 2nd day after harvest, stored at 0℃ cold storage for 3 months and assessed after 10, 20, and 30 days in RT shelf life condition after cold storage. After 30 days in RT, flesh firmness of untreated fruits was decreased to 45.8 Newton (N), while all of 1-MCP-treated fruits were maintained at 61.8-64.3 N. Internal ethylene concentration was sharply increased to 177.93 µL/L in untreated fruits, while it was inhibited by all of 1-MCP treatments at 0.74-3.06 µL/L. Titratable acidity (TA) was decreased to 0.19% in untreated fruits and all of 1-MCP treatments slowed the decrease of TA at 0.24-0.28%. The soluble solids content / titratable acidity (SSC/TA) ratio was gradually increased in untreated fruits, but it was not significantly changed in 1-MCP treatments. In addition, lightness of fruit peel color was maintained greater by 1-MCP treatments. Therefore, the results suggested the storability of untreated fruits was limited to 10 days in RT, but 1-MCP treatment extended the storability of 'Fuji' apples up to 30 days in shelf life condition at RT after cold storage.