Changes in Rate of Leakage of Potassium from Excised Disks of Apple Fruits Held at 20'c After Harvest

As early as 1928, Blackman and Parija suggested that the climacteric rise in respiration which is associated with ripening in most fruits might be due to changes in cell permeability. This view has been supported by recent observations on some tropical and subtropical fruits, viz. the avocado (Sacher 1962; Ben-Yehoshua 1964; Young and Biale 1967), the banana (Baur and Workman 1964; Sacher 1962, 1966), and the nutmeg melon (Von Abrams and Pratt 1967).