Postharvest Biology and Technology of Fruits, Vegetables, and Flowers

Chapter 7
Enhancing Postharvest Shelf Life and
Quality in Horticultural Commodities
Using 1-MCP Technology
Susan Lurie and Gopinadhan Paliyath
7.1 Introduction
Ethylene is a plant hormone that regulates plant growth and developmental processes as
well as ripening and senescence. The mode of action of ethylene thus may be influenced
by the physiological status of the tissue. The production and continued action of ethylene
are key factors that determine the shelf life and quality of harvested produce. Thus, several
technologies have been developed with the objective of controlling these events. The use
of the ethylene receptor blocker 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is one of the latest technologies
that has entered the market. Application protocols for several commodities have
been optimized and successfully employed worldwide.
1-MCP belongs to a class of cyclopropenes that were developed by Sisler and coworkers
at the University of North Carolina. 1-MCP (Fig. 7.1) and the use of cyclopropenes
for inhibiting ethylene action were patented by Sisler and Blankenship (1996). This was
first tested as a gas on flowers, bananas, and tomatoes (Sisler et al., 1996; Sisler and Serek,
1997). A commercial breakthrough in 1-MCP application technology was the development
of a stable formulation of 1-MCP as a powder in the form of a complex with cyclodextrin.
The advantage of such a system was that 1-MCP could easily be released as a gas
when the powder comes in contact with water. Development of improved chemicals and
formulations is still underway; however, it is likely to remain as the primary means of
controlling ethylene responses for several commodities in the immediate future (Sisler,
2006).
The impact of 1-MCP on postharvest science and technology has been twofold. First,
it provides an efficient and simple technology to preserve fruit and vegetable quality after
harvest. Second, 1-MCP has become a powerful tool to understand the fundamental mechanisms
involved in ripening and senescence. Several reviews have recently been published
on the effects of 1-MCP on horticultural commodities (Blankenship and Dole, 2003; Sisler
and Serek, 2003; Watkins and Miller, 2005; Watkins, 2006). Updates on 1-MCP technologies
can be obtained at http://www.hort.cornell.edu/mcp that catalogs the physiological and
biochemical responses for each commodity.
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