Vol. 77 No: 4

Title:
Varietal differences in locular gas composition in developing fruit of sweet and hot peppers, Capsicum spp., and evidence for divergent diffusion pathways

Authors:
JOHN BLASIAK and MARY E. MUSGRAVE

pp: 432-437

Abstract:
Although gaseous environment has been shown to have a fundamental influence on seed development, the internal atmosphere of developing fruit has seldom been characterized. Most studies depend upon emission rates that may not reflect true internal gas concentrations, or utilize excised fruit, the internal atmosphere of which may be compromised by manipulations accompanying harvest. In this study, we use Capsicum fruit as a model system to examine fluxes of oxygen and carbon dioxide in developing fruit from shortly after fruit set to full fruit ripeness. There are strong varietal differences in the concentrations of these gases during different developmental stages and these differences correlate with both morphological and developmental characteristics, in situ and removal experiments suggest that the concentrations of metabolic gases are modulated by the radically different diffusion pathways that occur in the separate cultivars.

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