COMMERCIALISATION OF SMARTFRESH™ (1-METHYLCYCLOPROPENE) IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN APPLE EXPORT MARKET, AND ITS EFFECT ON POST-HARVEST HANDLING AND QUALITY

SmartFresh™ is the trade name for an ethylene inhibitor, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), which can reduce the rate of ripening of many horticultural products, resulting in extended storage duration and improved shelf life.
Consistent with findings of overseas researchers, SmartFresh™ treatment on South African apples enabled maintenance of flesh firmness, skin colour and malic acid levels, and when applied under the recommended guidelines, complete superficial scald control.
From an extensive database of over 100 treatment rooms, the effects of commercially applied SmartFresh™ on fruit maturity at treatment, storage duration, RA vs CA storage, and different apple cultivars, were determined.
Using the database, maturity parameters at treatment were compared with quality responses after storage.
It was immediately evident that the most important factors effecting SmartFresh™ efficacy were starch levels, followed by flesh firmness.
When fruit were treated with less than 40% starch break down, flesh firmness improvement at the end of cold storage was invariably greater than 1.0 kg.
It was also evident that SmartFresh™ was no longer effective above a certain level of starch break down in the fruit.
Data were also analyzed statistically in a forward stepwise regression procedure to develop a model to predict treatment outcome using maturity data at treatment.
While still in the conceptual stage, results indicate promise, and the accuracy of this model should improve as additional data points are added.
The significance of these findings will be discussed.

V International Postharvest Symposium

I. Crouch, H. Snijman, A. Taaibosch

1-MCP, Malus domestica, fruit softening, cold storage

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2005.682.40