Feygenberg, O., Department of Postharvest Science of Fresh Produce, ARO, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
Ben-Arie, R., Department of Postharvest Science of Fresh Produce, ARO, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
Pesis, E., Department of Postharvest Science of Fresh Produce, ARO, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel

In the last years since the development of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), many works dealing with the effect of 1-MCP in banana were done. However, so far the application of 1-MCP to banana has not been done on commercial basis due to problems of uneven ripening. In our work, we found that application of low 1-MCP concentrations (25-100 ppb) released from SmartFreshSM powder 0.14% (w/w), sometimes resulted in total ripening inhibition, that is, without the possibility to induce ripening even by exogenous ethylene, depending on the developmental stage of the banana clusters. In young clusters the inhibition of ripening by 1-MCP was much stronger and non-reversible compared to mature ones. This fact demonstrated that application of 1-MCP at the green stage in banana is problematic and can result in total inhibition without the ability to ripen normally. On the other hand, application of 50-1000 ppb of 1-MCP to ethylene treated banana, after its removal from various ethylene treatments, was effective in reducing banana senescence. Usually, ethylene treated banana deteriorates in a few days of shelf life at 20°C, but the 1-MCP treated banana maintained its firmness and the peel color remained partly yellow after more than a week of shelf life at 20°C. The fact that 1-MCP treated banana did not reach the full yellow color shows that it can be beneficial to ethylene-treated banana; however further research is still needed for getting the desired results.