Physiological and ultrastructural analysis reveal the absence of a defined abscission zone in coffee fruits

• Autor(a) principal: Brandão,Isabel Rodrigues
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Silva,Dayane Meireles da, Souza,Kamila Rezende Dázio de, Boas,Lissa Vasconcellos Vilas, Santos,Meline de Oliveira, Silva,Fábio Moreira da, Alves,Jose Donizeti
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Bragantia
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0006-87052016000400386
• topic: Coffea arabica; Icatu amarelo; mechanized harvesting; degrading enzyme; oxidative stress

ABSTRACT In order to investigate the existence of a possible abscission zone in the binding region between the peduncle and the coffee fruit, as well as the biochemical events involved in fruit ripening, we studied peduncles and fruits of Coffea arabica L. cv. “Icatu amarelo”. Coffee fruits were harvested at different maturation stages by using specific intervals of detachment force. It was observed a breakdown in the cells of the connecting region between peduncles and fruits throughout the maturation process. This disruption is probably caused by increased activity of the cell wall-loosening enzymes (polygalacturonase and cellulase) as well as by higher levels of lipid peroxidation in the final maturation stages. In general, physiological differences between maturation stages were observed and can largely explain the different detachment forces required at different stages. In conclusion, there is no clear abscission zone between the peduncle and the coffee fruit cv. “Icatu amarelo”. Nevertheless, the decrease in the detachment force throughout the maturation process can occur due to the activity of cell wall-degrading enzymes together with increased oxidative stress during the fruit ripening.