Apricot Post harvest Ethylene Control | Trial Data

Apricot is the world’s third most cultivated stone fruit, and one of the most difficult to hold in condition after harvest. It’s strongly climacteric — meaning its ripening is driven by its own ethylene production — and that gives it a notoriously short marketable window (Regulation of apricot ripening and softening process during shelf life, Postharvest Biology and Technology). Because apricots are usually picked at low maturity, cooled, and then held to extend the supply period, the point where quality is won or lost isn’t in the cold room at all. It’s the moment the fruit warms up.

Why Cold Storage Alone Doesn’t Solve Apricot

At cold storage temperatures around 0–4°C, apricots hold their firmness well and don’t ripen significantly, because low temperature suppresses both metabolic activity and ethylene production (Interannual Variability in Apricot Quality, Horticulturae, 2025). Research indicates apricots can be held at 0°C for more than a month and still retain acceptable firmness (Stanley et al., 2013).

The problem is what happens next. The same research describes rapid softening on exposure to shelf-life temperatures around 20°C, driven by ethylene-triggered ripening processes that accelerate as the fruit warms. Studies tracking apricots through cold storage followed by simulated shelf life have measured ethylene production rates rising in all samples during the shelf-life period, with softening and weight loss both promoted by that phase (Impact of Cold Storage Temperature and Shelf Life on Ripening Physiology, PMC). The underlying mechanism is cell wall breakdown — pectin degradation and dissolution of the middle lamella — which is what turns a firm apricot into a soft one (Postharvest Biology and Technology).

So the real postharvest question for apricot isn’t just how cold you can hold it. It’s how much ethylene has accumulated around the fruit by the time it warms up — because that’s the trigger waiting to fire.

What the New Zealand Trial Tested

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research ran a storage trial on two apricot cultivars, ‘Clutha Gold’ and ‘Genevieve’, examining how modified atmosphere packages performed across extended cold storage. Alongside the packaging comparison, the trial included a specific test relevant to ethylene management: replicate bags were stored with an ethylene absorbent sachet, and matching replicates without. Oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethylene inside the bags were monitored weekly, and fruit quality was assessed after four or six weeks at 0°C followed by four days of shelf life at 20°C — the warm-up phase where apricot softening actually happens.

The Sachet Result

Two findings came out of the sachet comparison.

Ethylene was held at zero. In bags containing an ethylene absorbent sachet, ethylene inside the package remained at zero throughout the monitoring period. In the bags without a sachet, ethylene accumulated — rising through roughly the first three weeks of cold storage before eventually falling away again. That early accumulation window matters, because it overlaps precisely with the period when fruit is sitting in storage building toward its eventual warm-up.

Fruit was firmer. At both the four-week and six-week assessments, after the four-day shelf-life period at 20°C, sachet-treated fruit measured firmer than the matching no-sachet fruit across every package type tested. The trial’s own conclusion was direct: ethylene absorbent sachets were effective at reducing ethylene inside the packages and at maintaining fruit firmness.

Because this comparison was run across four different package types, the sachet benefit showed up independently of which package was used — it’s a result about ethylene management, not about any particular bag.

Why This Matters for Apricot Export

The independent research and the trial point at the same conclusion from different directions. Published work shows apricot softening is ethylene-driven and concentrated in the warm-up phase after cold storage. The trial shows that an ethylene absorbent sachet keeps ethylene at zero during storage and leaves the fruit measurably firmer once it has been through that warm-up. For an exporter, that’s the difference between fruit that arrives with usable shelf life ahead of it and fruit that softens on the retail shelf.

It’s also worth noting what the research says about duration. Studies have documented physiological disorders — juiciness loss and mealiness — developing in apricots held at 20°C after six weeks of cold storage at 0°C (Stanley et al., 2013). Apricot has a real storage ceiling regardless of packaging, and ethylene management extends quality within that window rather than removing the limit.

The Practical Takeaway

Apricot is a crop where ethylene control earns its place. Cold storage handles the storage phase reasonably well on its own; what it doesn’t do is remove the ethylene that has been accumulating around the fruit, ready to drive rapid softening the moment temperatures rise. An oxidative ethylene absorber placed inside the package addresses exactly that gap — and in this trial, doing so produced firmer fruit after the shelf-life period across every package type tested.

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References

Feng, R., Olsson, S., Woolf, A., Stanley, J., Varasteh, F., Marshall, R., White, A., & Petley, M. — Effect of MA packages on apricot storage, The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited (primary trial data).
Regulation of apricot ripening and softening process during shelf life by post-storage treatments of exogenous ethylene and 1-methylcyclopropene, Postharvest Biology and Technology — climacteric behaviour, cell wall and pectin degradation.
Interannual Variability in Apricot Quality: Role of Calcium and Postharvest Treatments During Cold Storage and Shelf Life, Horticulturae, 2025 — ethylene suppression at cold temperatures, rapid softening at shelf-life temperatures.
Impact of Cold Storage Temperature and Shelf Life on Ripening Physiology, Quality Attributes, and Nutritional Value in Apricots, PMC — ethylene production rates rising during shelf life.
Stanley, J., Prakash, R., Marshall, R., & Schröder, R. (2013) — apricot firmness retention at 0°C; juiciness loss and mealiness after six weeks.