On the use of Ethephon as abscising agent in cv. Crimson Seedless table grape production: Combination of Fruit Detachment Force, Fruit Drop and metabolomics

The effect of 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid (Ethephon, in the following ETH) as abscising agent on cv. Crimson Seedless table grape was investigated by means of Fruit Detachment Force (FDF) and Fruit Drop (FD) analyses combined with a metabolomic study carried out by High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The effectiveness of ETH as abscising agent was ascertained with ETH concentration ranging from 1.4 to 4.0 g/L in a two-year study. The ETH treatments caused berry drops higher than 40% and induced an increase of tartaric acid, procyanidin P2, terpenoid derivatives and peonidin-3-glucoside as well as a decrease of catechin and epicatechin. HRMS–NMR covariance analysis was carried out to correlate the fluctuations of tartaric acid NMR signals to those of MS peaks of the secondary metabolites affected by ETH treatments.