The effects of 1-MCP treatment on fruit quality of medlar fruit (Mespilus germanica L. cv. Istanbul) during long term storage in the palliflex storage system

• Medlar fruit were treated with different 1-MCP dosages and stored at 0 °C for 60 days.
• 1-MCP treatments decreased weight loss, delayed fruit softening and retained fruit taste.
• Total phenolics, flavonoids, condensed tannins and ascorbic acid decreased during storage.
• 1-MCP treatments maintained fruit quality and extended the storage life of medlar fruit.

In this study, the effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatments on ripening properties, postharvest characters, antioxidant activity, organic acids and sugar contents in medlar (Mespilus germanica L. cv. Istanbul) fruit were investigated. Medlar fruit were harvested at commercial harvest maturity and treated with 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 μL L−1 of 1-MCP for 24 h at 0 ± 0.5 °C in a hermetically sealed 100 L containers, and stored under the palliflex storage system (21% O2 + 0.03% CO2) at 0 ± 0.5 °C temperature with 90 ± 5% RH for 60 days. Most of the physiological and biochemical changes during storage and ripening were affected by 1-MCP in a dose-dependent manner. The two higher concentrations 1-MCP treatments extended the storage life, decreased weight loss and delayed the rate of softening, loss of taste, browning incidence in skin color (C* and ho values). 1-MCP treatments also retarded the decline of titratable acidity. During the early stage of storage, total phenolics, total flavonoids, total condensed tannins, ascorbic acid, antioxidant activity and organic acids gradually decreased in all treatments. The reduced changes in the total phenolics, total flavonoids, total condensed tannins, ascorbic acid, antioxidant activity, as well as individual organic acid (malic and oxalic acids) contents showed the effectiveness of 0.4 and 0.6 μL L−1 1-MCP in retarding fruit ripening. These results demonstrate that 0.4 and 0.6 μL L−1 1-MCP treatments were effective in extending postharvest life and maintaining the quality of medlar fruit.