Regular Air and Controlled Atmosphere Storage of ‘Alexander Lucas’ Pears when treated with 1-methylcyclopropene

The pear cultivar ‘Alexander Lucas’ has good quality attributes, but its storage life is limited by sensitivity to low oxygen and/or high carbon dioxide partial pressures during controlled atmosphere (CA) storage. 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) can be used to delay ripening of pomefruit but its interactions with CA storage remain poorly defined for pear cultivars. In 2015 ‘Alexander Lucas’ pears were harvested from the Competence Centre for Fruit Growing in Southwest Germany. At-harvest, the starch pattern index, fruit firmness, total soluble solid, titratable acidity and Streif harvest index were 6.0, 46.2 N, 11.8%, 6.6 mVal and 0.07, respectively. 1-MCP at 300 nL L -1 was applied for 24 h at 1°C or -0.5°C before storage. Fruit were stored under regular air (RA) and CA at -0.5 or 1°C under CA conditions of 2.0% O 2 and <0.7% CO 2 . After six months storage fruit quality and internal disorders (flesh browning, core browning and cavities) were evaluated. Superficial scald was not observed. The highest incidence of flesh browning (72.2%) was under RA at -0.5°C without 1-MCP treatment. Under RA at 1°C plus 1-MCP, 88.8% of fruit were sound, with 11.1% showing flesh browning, while core browning and cavities were not observed. In contrast, 1-MCP enhanced the disorder incidence in pears stored under CA. 1-MCP and CA maintained green skin colour, firmness and acidity. No differences in ascorbic acid content were observed among the storage treatments. ʻAlexander Lucasʼ is not easy to store, because this pear cultivar is sensitive to internal disorders when kept in CA storage. In RA storage, fruit firmness was low even when treated with 1-MCP, but for consumers that like soft textured pears this is a possibility.