Introduction. Plum cv. Santa
Rosa shows climacteric behaviour and grows profitably under sub-temperate
conditions in India. After ripening, it has a very limited shelf
life (3–4 days) in ambient conditions [(38 ± 2) °C and at (68 ± 4)%
RH]. Hence, there is an urgent need to extend its marketability
using recent techniques. Materials and methods. Plums
were harvested at the pre-climacteric and climacteric stages of
maturity and packed with newspaper shreds (control), KMnO4-impregnated
chalks, KMnO4-impregnated newspaper shreds or ethylene-absorbent sachets;
then they were transported by road to New Delhi. The biochemical
and physiological analyses were carried out at 3-day intervals on
plums stored in supermarket conditions [(20 ± 1) °C and at (90 ± 2)%
RH] for 15 days. Results and discussion. Untreated
fruits had less firmness than those which were packed with ethylene
absorbents. The activities of fruit-softening enzymes such as lipoxygenase
(LOX), polygalacturonase (PG) and pectin methylesterase (PME) increased
rapidly in the control treatment in comparison with plums packed with
various ethylene absorbents, the least being either with ethylene-absorbent
sachets or with KMnO4-impregnated newspaper shreds. Plums of pre-climacteric and
climacteric maturity attained respiration and ethylene evolution
peaks on the 9th day and 6th day, respectively. Conclusions. The
plums of pre-climacteric and climacteric stages of maturity packed with
ethylene-absorbent sachets showed the best results in supermarket
conditions in maintaining the firmness, quality and shelf life of
plum up to the 12th day and 9th day of storage, respectively.