Enzymatic maceration of apple parenchyma tissue. II. Effect of the degree of ripeness on the kinetic behaviour

Apples of four degrees of ripeness were selected to investigate the effect of ripening on maceration of apple tissue by polyglacturonase (PG) using th e model proposed to describe the kinetics of maceration [1]. This model per mitted to describe the kinetics for all four samples but the precision of t he adjustment showed a slight diminution with the degree of ripeness. The p roportion of apple tissue macerated by the fast (process 1) and slow (proce ss 2) processes was the only parameter of the model which changed with the degree of ripeness. Analysis of the maceration products (pulp and juice) re vealed that these two fractions were gradually degraded during the macerati on time.