RELATION OF CATALASE ACTIVITY TO PHYSIOLOGICAL BREAKDOWN IN JONATHAN APPLES

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Abstract
A convenient type of apparatus for catalase determinations is described and a standard method of procedure outlined. Catalase activity of Jonathan apples tended to be higher in apples going through the breakdown process and to decrease below that of normal fruits, in fruits in advanced stages of breakdown. Catalase activity of apples that did not develop breakdown tended to increase during the earlier, and to decrease during the later, periods of storage corresponding to the youth and senescence of the apples. Accordingly, catalase activity measurements may be used as an index of the rate of metabolic activity. Physiological breakdown in apples is associated with or caused by an accelerated metabolic rate. The fundamental causes of physiological breakdown are still obscure. It is known that the disease is most liable to occur when the crop on a tree is fairly small and the fruits correspondingly large. This is in line with the general tendency of fruit showing breakdown to be higher in %age of dry matter and sucrose.

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