Effects of Kinetin on Respiration Ethylene Production and Ripening of Banana Fruit Slices

Abstract

Thin slices cut from many plant tissues develop an increased respiration rate in the day or days after cutting (Laties 1963; ap Rees 1966). Mter slicing, the metabolism of the tissue changes in a number of respects including the capacity for salt and other solute uptake (Asprey 1937; MacDonald 1967), the relative contri-bution of the pentose phosphate shunt to total hexose catabolism !ap Rees and Beevers 1960; ap Rees 1966), and the induction of a number of enzymes (Edelman and Hall 1965; Willemot and Stumpf 1967). In the case of slices of arti-choke tissue, the presence of either indoleacetic acid or kinetin inhibits the increases, in response to slicing, of respiration, of phosphate uptake, and of invertase activity (Palmer 1966). While aspects of the latter experiments have been criticized (Vaughan and MacDonald 1967) the conclusion that the growth factors affect the response to slicing has not been challenged.