Ethylene production increases during ripening of climacteric fruits and it is believed that this gaseous plant hormone is the initiator of the ripening process in these fruits (Jackson and Looney, 1999a). One unique characteristic of climacteric fruits is that the presence of small amount of ethylene, either applied or produced by the fruit, stimulates the fruit to produce more ethylene which further accelerates the ripening process. With non-climacteric fruits, applied ethylene will stimulate some aspects of fruit ripening, such as chlorophyll breakdown in citrus rind, but the fruit do not respond by producing more ethylene. Clearly, the effects of ethylene on fruit ripening profoundly affect the approach to fruit storage.