Respiration and Ethylene Production in Fruits of Species and Cultivars of Psidium and Species of Eugenia1

Abstract

Fruits of 4 species and cultivars of guava ( Psidium guaiava L. cv. Beaumont, P. cattleianum Sabine, P. cattleianum f. lucidum Degener, and P. guajava L. cv. Allahabed Safeda) were found to be climacteric in their respiratory behavior with C 2 H 4 triggering the respiratory rise. Fruits of 4 species of Eugenia ( Eugenia malaccensis L., E. cumini (L.) Druce, E. uniflora L., and E. jambos L.) exhibited typical respiratory behavior of nonclimacteric fruits including the response to exogenous C 2 H 4 treatments. The possibility of using respiratory data as a physiological tool for taxonomic differentiation of plants is discussed.