Two CA rooms were used: a low ethylene-controlled atmosphere (LE-CA) room, fitted with a continuous C2H4 removal system, which functioned from September to May in both periods, so that the store ethylene concentration ranged from 4 to 15 μl l−1; the other a high ethylene-controlled atmosphere (HE-CA) room, where ethylene was not scrubbed and store ethylene concentration was > 100 μl l−1.