| Abstract: | The resistance of oranges (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) and grapefruit (Citrus paradisi Macf.) to ethylene, O2, CO2, and H2O mass transport was investigated anatomically with scanning electron microscope and physiologically by gas exchange measurements at steady state. The resistance of untreated fruit to water vapor is far less than to ethylene, CO2 and O2. Waxing partially or completely plugs stomatal pores and forms an intermittent cracked layer over the surface of fruit, restricting transport of ethylene, O2, and CO2, but not of water; whereas individual sealing of fruit with high density polyethylene films reduces water transport by 90% without substantially inhibiting gas exchange. Stomata of harvested citrus fruits are essentially closed. However, ethylene, O2 and CO2 still diffuse mainly through the residual stomatal opening where the relative transport resistance (approximately 6,000 seconds per centimeter) depends on the relative diffusivity of each gas in air. Water moves preferentially by a different pathway, probably through a liquid aqueous phase in the cuticle where water conductance is 60-fold greater. Other gases are constrained from using this pathway because their diffusivity in liquid water is 104-fold less than in air. |
