How to prevent ripening blockage in 1-MCP-treated 'Conference' pears

BACKGROUND: Some European pear varieties treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) often remain 'evergreen', meaning that their ripening process is blocked and does not resume after removal from cold storage. In this work this was confirmed also to be the case in 'Conference' pears. To reverse the blockage of ripening 1-MCP treatments combined with external exogenous ethylene were tested. RESULTS: 1-MCP treatment of 'Conference' pears is very effective in delaying ripening and, more specifically, softening. The same 1-MCP concentration in different experimental years caused a different response. The higher dose of 1-MCP (600 nL L-1) always resulted in irreversible blockage of ripening, whereas the behaviour of fruit receiving a lower dose (300 nL L-1) depended on the year, and this did not depend on maturity at harvest or on storage conditions. Simultaneous exposure to 1-MCP and exogenous ethylene significantly affected fruit ripening, allowing significant softening to occur but at a lower rate compared with control fruit. CONCLUSION: The application of exogenous ethylene and 1-MCP simultaneously after harvest permitted restoration of the ripening process after storage in 'Conference' pears, extending the possibility of marketing and consumption. (C) 2011 Society of Chemical Industry