Results by Cultivar 



Ginger Gold. Ginger Gold is not a 

 cultivar normally associated with long 

 storage. We tested it primarily to test the 

 application method, but results were 

 striking (Table 1 ). Fruit were stored for 

 either three or eight weeks in 32F air, after 

 which half the fruit were evaluated and 

 the rest were kept at room temperature for 

 a week before being evaluated. 



1-MCP greatly suppressed ethylene 

 levels in the fruit. In fact, for the August 

 27 harvest it caused the ethylene present 

 at harvest to drop sharply during and 

 following storage. However, over time, 

 both in storage and after storage, the 

 ethylene gradually rose as the fruit slowly 

 overcame the 1-MCP effect. 



Firmness of untreated fruit predict- 

 ably dropped rapidly during and follow- 

 ing storage, producing unacceptably soft 

 apples. 1 -MCP treated fruit also softened 

 during storage, but far less. In particular, 

 little additional softening occurred at 

 room temperature following storage, 

 whereas untreated fruit softened greatly 

 after storage. 



Ginger Gold apples treated with 1-MCP were 

 still firm and appealing after eight weeks in air 

 storage plus one week at room temperature, whereas 

 untreated fruit were unacceptable. 



Royal Gala. Royal Gala were harvested on two 

 dates, treated with 1-MCP like Ginger Gold, and 

 stored in 32F air, but for longer times, i.e., 90 and 1 50 

 days. Untreated fruit increased in ethylene content 

 during and following storage, but their maximum 

 levels were only about one-third the maximum levels 

 in Ginger Gold (Table 2). 1-MCP treatment severely 

 suppressed ethylene levels in Royal Gala. Again, at 

 second harvest 1 -MCP suppressed the ethylene levels 

 in treated frui to below what was there at harvest, but 

 in this cultivar, ethylene levels never gave any 

 indication of increasing following treatment. 



Untreated fruit softened during and following 

 storage, and also developed a progressively yellower 

 background color. Treated fruit also softened during 

 storage, but like Ginger Gold, did not soften at room 

 temperature following storage and were substantially 



firmer than the untreated ones at all evaluations. 

 Treated fruit also became yellower with time, but were 

 generally less yellow than the controls. Harvest date 

 did not influence the effect of 1-MCP; harvest 

 differences were retained, but not changed. 



Mcintosh. Mcintosh is of particular interest in 

 New England and two experiments were conducted. In 

 the first, three strains (Rogers, Morspur, and SpurMac) 

 were harvested on September 10 when the fruit were 

 just beginning to produce ethylene. The strains were 

 all treated as described above, and stored at 32F in air 

 for 90 or 175 days, plus 7 days at 70F prior to 

 evaluation. In the second experiment, some Retain'" 

 treated fruit were harvested on October 1 , and treated 

 and stored the same as the strains, except for a 

 maximum of 150 rather than 175 days. This is a late 

 harvest date, and fruit averaged over 2 ppm internal 

 ethylene at harvest. 



The three strains all responded similarly to 1 -MCP 

 so only their averages are presented in Table 3. (Note 

 that Rogers were about 3/4 pound softer than the 



Fruit Notes, Volume 67, Summer, 2002 



