Mature green bananas (Musa sp., AAA group, Cavendish subgroup, cultivar `Williams') were obtained from a commercial grower at Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. Individual bananas were dipped in thiabendazole (30 g in 65 l, `Tecto 90') for 4 min, and air-dried, before being individually sealed in respiration containers and ventilated with humidified air (about 1 l h−1) for 18 h. Ethylene and carbon dioxide were measured to ensure that the fruit were preclimacteric. All experiments were conducted at 20°C.