3.5 ETHYLENE

It has been shown that sugar beet roots do react to the concentration of ethylene under storage, but also that the effects are likely of little consequence under commercial conditions (Fugate et al., 2010). When roots were places in controlled atmospheres with the concentrations of 0.020 and 0.11 μL/L, an initial average increase in respiration of 55 % was observed through to 48 hours. This effect had disappeared by 72 hours. At the same time, in a large commercial non-ventilated pile, a maximum concentration of 0.028 μL/L was found after 67 days. Levels were only 0.0057 μL/L at 30 days.