**5. Future research trends and new perspectives**

The preharvest 1-MCP treatment has shown remarkable benefits for different fruit crops, which clearly come over for apples. Further research is needed to allow its application to a larger number of climacteric fruits, mainly those for which the postharvest 1-MCP treatment has a positive effect on delaying ripening and maintaining fruit quality. In these cases, replacing the postharvest treatment with the preharvest 1-MCP application would be a very useful tool for improving handling operations in packing houses.

In non-climacteric fruits, further studies are necessary to elucidate the role of the preharvest 1-MCP treatment in maintaining or improving different fruits quality aspects.

Besides, continued research is required on metabolic paths, gene expression, and enzyme activities on the preharvest effects of 1-MCP on fruit metabolism.
