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Fruit ripening and the role that ethylene plays in this process are complex. Many studies support that the interaction of ethylene with other plant hormones determines the onset and progress of the ripening process (Brady, 1987). Recent results in tomato suggest that ethylene and auxin cross-talk throughout fruit ontogeny (Khoja ., 2003).

The physiological and biochemical processes that fruit undergo during development and maturation change the fruit’s general composition. Besides the important evolution of chemical compounds involved in determining color, flavor/aroma formation, and sugar/acid content, modification of flesh firmness is one of the major changes occurring in fruit at the onset of ripening. While softening starts at the beginning of maturation, it peaks most notably during the last stage of fruit ripening in concomitance with ethylene burst.

Peel appearance of banana fruit is an important quality criteria that influences consumer acceptability. Many studies have shown promising results with the use of the ethylene antagonist 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on extending green life and shelf life of bananas (Macnish . 1997, 2000; Golding . 1998; Jiang . 1999; Harris . 2000).

Tomato is a very important fruit due to the high consumption of it in the world. From the nutritional point of view, it also presents interesting characteristics such as the high content of substances with antioxidant activity. It has been assumed that regular intake of dietary antioxidants from fruits and vegetables would lead to a decrease in oxidative damage to key structures in the body, like lipids, proteins and DNA.

Most winter pear cultivars, including Passe-Crassane, do not ripen at warm temperatures. Postharvest exposure to chilling temperatures is required to synchronize the onset of the climacteric increase in ethylene production and the ripening of individual fruit (Lelièvre ., 1997). During ripening, pears softened, developing a melting texture after a period of shelf life.

In fruit such as the tomato (), ethylene initiates ripening and senescence, whereas polyamines have been considered senescence inhibitors. Putrescine is elevated in long-keeping Alcobaca tomato (Dibble , 1988), and polyamine applications delay tomato ripening (Law , 1991).

The aroma is an important parameter in fruit quality and is due to hundreds of volatile organic compounds including alcohols, aldehydes, terpenes, esters, ketones, lactones, sulfur-containing compounds among others.

Maturity is only one aspect of the quality of perishable products, but it has great influence on their postharvest behavior during marketing, as well as on their ultimate organoleptic quality. Consequently, it has been the subject of considerable research. Characteristics that change with advancing maturity are valuable as harvest indicators. The objectives of the present study were to characterize the quality and maturity changes of late season peach ( L.) fruit cvs. O’Henry and Late Nos during maturation and ripening, and to identify harvest maturity indices relating the different variables.

The use of natural or transgenic mutants is one of the ways to investigate specific physiological pathways in model plants such as Arabidopsis and tomato. In peach, a natural mutant (named slow ripening, ), originated from a free pollination of the cv Fantasia, a yellow-fleshed nectarine, is characterized by a block of fruit development and an altered ripening pattern (no softening, pale yellow color).

Early abscission or detachment of an organ from the main body of a plant can result in unwanted crop loss and decrease in the quality of the fruit harvested. For many decades it has been observed that gassing plants with ethylene will often hasten abscission, and greenhouse flower growers are careful to avoid any unwanted ethylene. As new genes regulating abscis sion are identified, scientists have also begun to try to understand how these genes interact with genes regulating ethylene and other hormone responses. Gene expression and genetic analysis indicates that ethylene can affect the abscission process at two distinct phases during the abscission process.