The present work was carried out on IB/Unesp, Botucatu-SP, with the objective to study the effect of postharvest application of Ethephon on change peel color of sweet orange cv. 'Hamlin' and 'Baianinha'. The fruits was soaked in water solution of Ethephon(2-chloroethyl fosfonic acid) plus 0,05% of Extravon ( 25% Alquil phenol poliglycoleter) The applied treatments were: T1- control (water); T2 -- Ethephon -- 1000 mg.L-1 / 5 minutes soaked; T3 - Ethephon -- 2000 mg.L-1 / 5 minutes soaked; T4 -- Ethephon -- 3000 mg.L-1 / 5 minutes soaked; T5 -- Ethephon -- 4000 mg.L-1 / 5 minutes soaked; T6 -- Ethephon -- 1000 mg.L-1 / 10 minutes soaked; T7 - Ethephon -- 2000 mg.L-1 / 10 minutes soaked; T8 -- Ethephon -- 3000 mg.L-1 / 10 minutes soaked; T9 -- Ethephon -- 4000 mg.L-1 / 10 minutes soaked. The experiment was set up in a split plot design, utilizing 4 replications and 9 treatments. After 72 hours, the experiment was evaluated by folowing variables: amount of chlorophyll skin, total soluble solids, texture and visual analysis with pictures. The results showed that Ethephon reduced peel chlorophyll content on fruits in all treatments of Ethephon, but hight rates like 4000 mg.L-1 started points of necrosis on skin. Fruit quality was not adversely affected by all treatments. So it was concluded that the best rate was 1000 mg.L-1 to induce the decrease of peel chlorophyll content of 'Hamlim' and 'Baianinha' sweet orange.
Citrus sinensis; postharvest; Ethephon; peel color
