Ripening Physiology: An Overview

Ripening is an important event in the fruit life cycle and from the consumers' point of view. Mature fruit undergo ripening, which is a coordinated process typically involving many changes, such as pigmentation, avor, aroma, respiration, ethylene, texture, softening, sugar, and organic acid. Physiologists typically classied fruits into climacteric and nonclimacteric categories on the basis of their respiration peaks and internal ethylene concentrations. This chapter reviews the climacteric and nonclimacteric ripening of fruits and physiological and metabolic changes during ripening. In climacteric fruit, components responsible for the production of climacteric ethylene have been identied. Less progress has been made on nonclimacteric fruit; still, knowledge is poor to classify many fruits into climacteric or nonclimacteric. A comprehensive climacteric classication of fruits is given in this chapter. Textural changes and the role of enzymes are also reviewed.