2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinesis ‘Jecy green’) is a typical climacteric fruit and demanded a long period for ripening. Exposure of fruit and vegetables to ethylene occasionally cause a side effect contributing to a bad taste but kiwifruit still had not been demonstrated. We investigated that the changes in postharvest quality and GC-MS-based metabolites compositions in kiwifruit under ethylene treatment versus control at room temperature. Kiwifruit was packaged for ethylene application at harvest, 2 month and 5 month after cold storage at 2^oC and treated ethylene at 20 and 200 µL/L using ethylene generator. The ethylene treated kiwifruit in whole storage period was most predominant on ripening qualities including firmness, total soluble solid and sensory appearance. Controls in three storage resumes as at harvest, 2 month, and 5 month were spent to 21, 9, and 5 days, respectively, for reaching the edible status (6N, 14 brix). By ethylene treatment (20 µL/L), the kiwi fruits in three storage resumes were advanced the edible states as 13, 9, and 5< days, respectively. By ethylene treatment (200 µL/L), the kiwi fruit in three storage resumes were advanced the edible states as 7, 4, and 3 days, respectively. In the fluctuation of polar metabolites, ethylene enhanced the degradation of sucrose, inositol, citric acid, and malic acid and slightly declined to ascorbic acid content. The sensory appearance, ascorbic acid content, and principle component assay of polar metabolites had no difference between naturally ripe fruit and ethylene-induced ripe kiwifruit. In conclusion, our results suggest that application of ethylene in packaged kiwifruit would be advanced the good flavor without side effect. Also, we proposed that ethylene is possible to control the shelf-life of kiwifruit considering to the resume of storage period and distribution channel.