Postharvest 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) applications are commercially used on ‘Conference’ pears to obtain an improved fruit quality after storage for up to 11 months. Treatment with 1-MCP may result in firmer and greener fruit at the end of storage. During subsequent shelf life, 1-MCP treated pears may show slower ripening, including a reduced rate of softening and a reduced production of aroma volatiles. The lower levels of aroma volatiles and consumer complaints of reduced flavour suggest that flavour is negatively affected by 1-MCP treatments, which has raised concern within in the Dutch fruit industry.

In the present study, the effect of pre-storage 1-MCP treatment on post-storage ripening and flavour perception was studied. Untreated and 1-MCP-treated pears (325 nL L⁻¹) were stored for 8 months at -0.8 °C under controlled atmosphere conditions of 3 kPa O₂ and 0.6 kPa CO₂ according to commercially used protocols. At day 7 and 9 of the subsequent shelf life at 10 °C, 1-MCP-treated fruit showed decreased yellowing and ethylene production, whereas firmness was similar to that of untreated fruit. The production of aroma volatiles was significantly reduced in 1-MCP-treated fruit; this was especially observed for different acetate esters, ethanol and butanol. Despite the reduction in aroma volatiles, a consumer panel could not distinguish (in a Tetrad test) between samples from untreated and 1-MCP-treated fruit with similar firmness. This indicates that the important aroma volatiles, although reduced in abundance, were still above threshold levels and did not affect overall flavour perception. We conclude that 1-MCP does not affect flavour when pears within equal firmness classes are compared.

收获后的1-甲基环丙烯（1-MCP）应用在'Conference'梨上商业使用，可在储存长达11个月后获得改善的果实品质。用1-MCP处理可能会在储存结束时使果实变硬和变绿。在随后的保质期内，经过1-MCP处理的梨可能显示出较慢的成熟度，包括降低的软化速率和降低的香气挥发物生成。较低的香气挥发物和消费者对风味降低的抱怨表明，风味受到1-MCP处理的不利影响，这引起了荷兰水果行业的关注。

在本研究中，研究了存储前1-MCP处理对存储后成熟和风味感知的影响。未经处理和经1-MCP处理的梨（325 nL L ^-1）在-0.8°C和3 kPa O ₂和0.6 kPa CO _2的受控气氛条件下存储8个月。根据商业上使用的协议。在随后于10°C的货架期的第7天和第9天，1-MCP处理的水果显示出减少的泛黄和乙烯生成，而硬度与未处理的水果相似。1-MCP处理的水果中香气挥发物的产生显着减少；对于不同的乙酸酯，乙醇和丁醇，尤其如此。尽管减少了香气挥发物，但消费者小组仍无法区分（在Tetrad测试中）未处理水果和经1-MCP处理的具有类似硬度的水果样品。这表明，重要的香气挥发物虽然数量减少了，但仍高于阈值水平，并且不影响整体的香气感知。我们得出结论，当比较同等硬度等级的梨时，1-MCP不会影响风味。