The 1-MCP is a gaseous type of chemical, with fumigation for treatment. It is a newly developed biotechnological way to protect the crops from ethylene attack.

In wide coverage of effectiveness for flowers, fruits, and vegetables, it becomes a very promising freshening agent in post harvest industries for horticultural products. It can significantly extent the shelf life of fresh produces.

For typical fumigation, the 1-MCP is applied at low concentration (500 nl/l – 2,000 nl/l), depending on species of crops, the duration of treatment, and the environmental conditions.

For the newly development technology – the “Aqueous Immersion”, the 1-MCP can be used by directly immersing the crops into the water solution for the treatment. The advantages are to significantly shorten the treatment time, and can be easily integrated into the existing post harvest material flow without additional work load.

1-MCP is applied under a range of temperature, from freezing cool (e.g. 5C) to ambient ones (e.g. 25C). This gives the crops’ owners a choice for treatment after harvest. With required storage elongating, 1-MCP can be reapplied to assure the freshness and to protect crops from ethylene response.

The Theory

Ethylene affects the growth, development, ripening, and senescence (aging) of all plants. The plant hormone ethylene plays an important role in the ripening process of fruits, flowers, vegetables, and potted plants. The way of ethylene works on plants is to attach on its receptors generating a signal of transduction, then to accelerate the process of ripening.

Ethylene production in plants often increases following damage, wounding, or stress from a variety of sources. This increase has been called wound ethylene, but a better term might be stress-induced ethylene production, or, more simply, stress ethylene. It is normally produced in small quantities by most fruits and vegetables. Many fruits produce larger quantities of ethylene and respond with uniform ripening when exposed to an external source of ethylene.

The cyclic olefins appeared able to block the ethylene responses rather than to induce a response. These block ethylene action, and promising be a new way of controlling ripening, senescence, and other ethylene responses. The 1-MCP (1-methylecyclopropene) clearly shows being the best choice among tens of potential candidates, not only its simplicity of chemical structure but also the commercial availability.