Figure 2.
Segregation of the exogenous ethylene softening response. Postharvest flesh firmness changes of the fast-softening (climacteric, A–G) and slow-softening (suppressed climacteric, H–M) plum cultivars during 10 d ripening at 20°C and 90% RH immediately after harvest (H) on fruit exposed or not to exogenous ethylene (ETH, 10 μL L−1). The horizontal dotted line marks the 10-N flesh firmness threshold of the “ready-to-eat” stage. The vertical bars in each particular figure represent the least significant difference (LSD, P = 0.05).