Ethylene was treated or inhibited to investigate its effect on the physiological changes related to induction of flesh browning in Fuyu persimmon fruit. The response of fruit to ethylene was so slight, that the Fuyu fruit seemed to possess a similar characteristic to non-climacteric fruit. The flesh browning was however enhanced by ethylene treatment, although any significant increment of phenolic content or PPO activity in flesh tissue was not detected. Ethylene induced not only increasing of ion leakage from fruit tissue, but the fatty acids extracted from ethylene-treated fruit tissue were also more saturated. It was suggested that ethylene be related in the changing of membrane permeablity via saturating of fatty acid in membrane lipid. That could result in increased leakage of vacuole-stored phenolic compounds, which oxidized further by PPO to cause fruit flesh to brown.

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