Two abscission zones proximal to Lansium domesticum fruit: one more sensitive to exogenous ethylene than the other

Longkong (Lansium domesticum) fruit grows in bunches and is also sold as bunches. Individual fruit can separate from the bunch both before and after commercial harvest. The fruit has two separation sites. The first is located between bracts on the stem and the fused sepals (separation zone 1: SZ1) and the second between the fused sepals and the fruit (separation zone 2: SZ2). True abscission occurred at both zones. We investigated whether the two zones were active at different stages of development and if they were differentially sensitive to ethylene. Abscission occurred in the SZ1 in very young fruit (fruit still at the ovary stage), during early fruit development (5 weeks after full bloom; WAFB), and in ripe and overripe fruit (15–17 WAFB). Abscission did not spontaneously occur in the SZ2, but by the time the fruit was fully ripe, 15 WAFB, and later, a slight mechanical force was sufficient to break this zone. In fruit bunches severed from the tree at 5, 8, and 13 WAFB, break strength (BS) in SZ1 decreased much more after exogenous ethylene treatment than that in SZ2. Ethylene induced abscission in the SZ1, but not in SZ2. At 5, 8, and 13 WAFB, treatment with 1-methylcyclopropane (1-MCP; an inhibitor of ethylene perception) had a small effect on BS in the SZ1 and no effect in the SZ2. It is concluded that abscission in the SZ1 was much more sensitive to ethylene than that in the SZ2. In intact plants SZ1 reacts to endogenous ethylene, e.g., as a result of stress, while SZ2 apparently allows animals to remove the ripe fruit from the tree with minimal force.