ETHANOL CONTENT OF RIPENING APPLES (VARIETY MUTSU) AND ETHYLENE PRODUCTION DURING STORAGE UNDER ANAEROBIC CONDITIONS AT ROOM-TEMPERATURE

Ethylene, one of the simplest organic compounds, is a natural product of plant metabolism, and it is known to play a major role in the agein g and ripening of fruit. Thus many compounds could be converted into e thylene through various chemical reactions. A number of compounds have been proposed as precursors, such as propanol, beta-alanine, etc. The main objective of this work was to determine whether the apples (Muts u variety) produce ethylene, acetaldehyde and ethanol during ripening under anaerobic conditions at room temperature. It was found that as t he concentration of ethanol increases, ethylene production reached a m aximum of 23 ppm, and acetaldehyde reached its maximum value of 690 mu l ml-1. During the same period, the concentration of O2 decreased to a minimum level of 2%.