Abstract: Harvested kiwifruit（Actinidia eriantha Benth‘Walter’）were dipped in 50 or 75 mmol · L^-1 potassium oxalate solution for 10 min，and then stored at room temperature. The results showed that lower softening and decay incidence in treated fruit were observed as compared to control fruit. After 15 days in storage，the decay incidence in 50 and 75 mmol · L^-1 potassium oxalate treated fruit decreased by 6.7% and 10%，respectively，and vitamin C content in treated fruit was significantly higher than that in control fruit. The application of potassium oxalate not only reduced ethylene production and respiratory rate，but also delayed the climacteric respiration in fruit. In addition，activities of pectolytic enzymes including polygalacturonase（PG），xylanase（Xyl）and β-galactosidase（β-Gal）were significantly decreased in treated fruit. It was suggested that these physiological effects of potassium oxalate might collectively contribute to slowing the process of softening and ripening in kiwifruit during storage.

Key words: Actindia eriantha Benth, fruit, potassium oxalate, pectolytic enzyme, softening