Ripening of ‘Bartlett’ pears at 20°C was assessed in samples harvested weekly beginning 4 weeks prior to commercial harvest maturity. Ripening was promoted by delaying harvest, by 1- and 2-week periods of storage at 4.4°C, or both. Early summer treatments with 750 and 7500 ppm succinic acid-2,2-dimethylhydrazide (SADH) delayed ripening but this effect was counteracted by both delayed harvest and postharvest storage at 4.4°C. It is concluded that SADH delays ripening by influencing an endogenous mechanism for controlling ripening in pears.
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Norman E. Looney (1972) studied this question.