240 P. BISWAS ET AL.
proposed by Hong and Gross (2000). Ogura et al. (1976) did not find any
effect of ethylene on CI symptoms when mature-green tomatoes were
treated with 50μLL−^1 ethylene before storage at 4◦C where no ripening
was observed during storage. “Honeydew” muskmelons stored at 2.5◦C
showed a reduction of CI when fruit were treated with ethylene before
cool storage and ripened more rapidly than the untreated control (Lip-
ton and Aharoni 1979). Duration of ethylene exposure was important as
18 h was found more beneficial than 24 h (Lipton 1980). Bananas treated
with 1-MCP had increased CI symptoms compared to controls (Jiang
et al. 2004). Wang et al. (2006) found that bananas treated with propy-
lene (an ethylene analogue) prior to storage at 7◦C showed increased
tolerance to CI. Similarly, inhibition of ethylene action by using
1-MCP induced a greater incidence of woolliness in peaches (Zhou et al.
2001) and nectarines (Dong et al. 2001) by preventing normal ripen-
ing. Reducing cold-induced ethylene production by inhibiting ACS (by
aminoethoxyvinylglycine) and ACO (by cobalt chloride) enhanced peel
damage in “Fortune” mandarin (Lafuente et al. 2001). These results sup-
port the role of ethylene in reducing CI but do not indicate whether this
positive effect is independent of simple ethylene-induced ripening and
corresponding reduction of chilling sensitivity.
Overall, results reported here indicate that the role of ethylene in
the development of CI is complex as ethylene treatment can reduce,
increase, or have no effect at all on CI development. Nonetheless, a
reduction in CI symptoms could be due to a “slower” decline in ethy-
lene production than its inhibition as suggested in non-climacteric
pineapple treated with 1-MCP (Selvarajah et al. 2001). It is possible
that beneficial or detrimental effects of ethylene depend on whether
ethylene increases or decreases product sensitivity to chilling (Watkins
and Ekman 2004). Fruit maturity, species, or tissue type within the same
species will determine the ethylene responses in altering chilling sensi-
tivity along with ethylene application dose or timing. More importantly,
ethylene may influence chilling sensitivity of tissues but not necessarily
increase or reduce all types of symptoms in a given tissue. As chilling
injury is a collective term for a set of physiological disorders found in
chilling-sensitive tissues, it is possible that the effects of ethylene are
not limited to one factor, but could influence one or many symptoms at
the same time. Exposure of mature-green tomatoes to ethylene or ethep-
hon before storage at 0◦Cor5◦C reduced abnormal ripening but not
the severity of other chilling symptoms during post-storage ripening at
20 ◦C (Kader and Morris 1975). In peaches, application of ethylene dur-
ing cool storage reduced woolliness significantly but encouraged fruit
decay and loss of pulp firmness (Girardi et al. 2005). Therefore, it is