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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Dairy and Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #315679
Title: Controlled delivery of 1-MCP from R1, R2-B-methylene cyclopropane complexes: an effective approach to be used both in closed environments and open crop fields

Author
item Sarker, Majher
item Tomasula, Peggy
item Liu, Linshu

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/2/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: 1-methylcycloprene (1-MCP) is a synthetic plant growth regulator used for the confined treatment of perishable agricultural commodities, such as fruits, flowers and vegetables, to retard ripening and thus prolong shelf-life. Previous investigations have shown that 1-MCP protects crops from yield loss caused by environmental stresses such as drought and waterlogging. The main difficulties associated with the use of 1-MCP are its handling and purposeful controlled delivery as 1-MCP is a gas at ambient temperature, which limits its broad spectrum of application. The R1, R2-B-methylene cyclopropane (MCP) complexes recently invented in our laboratory are stable at ambient conditions and capable of releasing 1-MCP gradually upon contact with H2O molecules, depending on their hydrolysis rates controlled by the side chains (R1 and R2). These compounds offer several advantages in comparison with the existing 1-MCP formulations, such as environmental stimuli-modulating release, multi-batch treatments and more importantly the prospect of being used in open fields. Open field application of 1-MCP can be a solution to protect crop production in dry seasons due to inadequate amounts or unequal distribution of rain fall. The investigated complexes could be modified with the replacement of different alkyl or aryl groups thus generating more complexes to explore.