Several compounds interact specifically with ethylene recep-tors blocking plant responses to this hormone. Among them,
1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) has been successfully used at low
concentrations to inhibit fruit ripening (Sisler and Serek, 1999).
Most studies on the effects of 1-MCP were carried out with fruits
or flowers, and only a few with leafy vegetables (Watkins, 2006,
and references therein). These works show that the senescence of
green tissues, anundesirable process in leafy vegetables, is delayed
by treatments with 1-MCP.
The aim of this work was to assess the effects of 1-MCP treat-ments on postharvest life of spinach leaves.