Sensitivity to water stress and ethylene of stored plantain fruits

Water stress in three cultivars of stored plantains, resulting in weight losses of about 0.5% d-1, caused reductions in the preclimacteric period of about 65%. Water stress also caused significant increases in the basal rates of respiration and of ethylene production in preclimacteric plantains. Continuous treatment of plantains with very low exogenous concentrations of ethylene caused significant reductions in the preclimacteric period and increased the basal rate of respiration. The results are discussed in relation to the role of ethylene in the response of plantains to water stress and to differences in the storage behaviour of bananas and plantains. © 1982 Oxford University Press.