Ethylene Production by Slices of Green Banana Fruit and Potato Tuber Tissue During The Development of Induced Respiration

Abstract

It is well known that injury and infection by disease organisms may stimulate ethylene production by plant tissues (Williamson 1950; Burg 1962; McGlasson and Pratt 1964). The increased ethylene production which results from injury in fruit tissues may hasten the onset of a respiratory climacteric. This response, which has been observed in slices cut from three-quarter-grown cantaloupe fruit, may herald the commencement of physiological changes leading to natural ripening (McGlasson and Pratt 1964). However, in underground storage tissues, stimulated ethylene production may be concerned with the mechanisms of wound healing (Stahmann, Clare, and Woodbury 1966; Imaseki, Uchiyama, and Uritani 1968). The phenomenon of induced respiration in tissue slices of bulky underground storage organs has been known for many years (Laties 1967) and more recently it has been found to occur in sections or slices of other plant parts (ap Rees 1966). Palmer and McGlasson (1969) observed a similar rise in slices of green banana fruit which they considered to be a form of "induced" respiration.