Improving Postharvest Storage of Apple Cv.

Apple is one of the important fruit in Iran. according to respiration and ethylene production behaviors, apple classified as a climacteric fruit. Therefore, any treatments, which can inhibit or prevent the action of ethylene, they can increase the postharvest life of horticultural production. 1-methylcyclopropane (1-MCP) is one of the chemical which is environmental save and use as a very small concentrations. In this experiment, the effects of 1-MCP at concentrations of 0 (as a control), 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 µl.l-1 were used in apple cv. "Golab Kohanz", a land race fruits which is cultivated from long times ago in Iran. After the 1-MCP treatment, they were moved to cold room at 2 ºC and RH of ca 90% for 60 days. Samples were removed from the cold room and analysis for physicochemical characteristics. "Golab Kohanz" apples treated with 1-MCP showed improved fruit firmness, titratable acidity (TA), and total soluble solid after 147 days at 2ºC , compared to the control non-treated fruits. Also, treatment with 1-MCP significantly reduced the incidence of superficial scald in "Golab Kohanze". In general, 1-MCP-treated apples delay ripening during storing in cold room and increased shelf life. Overall, the results indicate that 1-MCP has tremendous potential for maintaining apple quality during storage and post storage