A problem in post-harvest of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is the heterogeneity in fruit ripening, due to differences in the time of fruit set and the inability to ripen on the tree, a situation that causes inconsistencies in quality and differences in the response to preservation and processing technologies. In postharvest, the application of ethylene gas in hermetic chambers has been used to advance ripening; however, the use of ethylene releasers in liquid form (ethephon) has been proposed as an alternative, mainly for the treatment of low volumes of fruit. The present work was carried out in the production zone of Salvador Escalante (Michoacán, Mexico) with the objective of evaluating the effect of the application of two concentrations of ethephon on the time and homogenization of fruit ripening of avocado cultivars (cv.) Hass and Méndez. Fruits with 23.4% (cv. Hass) and 24% (cv. Méndez) of dry matter were harvested; one group was immersed in a solution of ethephon 500 mg/L and the other in 1,000 mg/L, both for 5 minutes; the treated fruits plus a control were stored at 20 °C for 11 days. Changes in respiration, ethylene production, weight loss, firmness, epicarp and pulp color, total phenol, chlorophyll and total carotenoid concentrations were evaluated. The results showed that ethephon doses of 1,000 mg/L in cv. Hass and 500 mg/L in cv. Méndez presented a ripening process 2 days earlier than the control.

No less than 60% of timber production in Peru’s natural forests is the result of informal or illegal extractive activities that, by definition, are not sustainable. This article aims to demonstrate that even legitimate timber, such as timber harvested in more than 6 million hectares of forest concessions, does not meet the basic requirements of sustainable forest management. Forestry legislation itself, which does not emphasize forest management, institutional weaknesses and the socioeconomic environment are the main causes. In addition, the cutting cycles and the authorized minimum diameters, among other practices, do not allow the renewal of the resource and increase its degradation.

Nothofagus pumilio forests constitute the most economically important forest stand in southern Argentina and Chile. Total volume stocking and volumetric yield vary according to site quality, degree of occupation, growth stage and forest history of the stand. The objective of this work was to evaluate the stocking and the productive potential in quantity and quality of products for the sawmilling industry, using three harvesting systems (short logs, long logs and complete shafts) in the protection cut of a N. pumilio forest of site quality III in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). The trials were conducted in an irregular mature forest with two strata and abundant regeneration (3.0 ha; RDI 93.8–113.4%). Total volumes varied between 726.5 and 850.3 m³∙ha^-1, with a volume/basal area ratio of 11.8 to 12.1 m³∙m^-2. The harvesting rates obtained were: 45.5% for complete logs, 21.3% for long logs and 22.4% for short logs. A model was used to estimate the timber volume for each system, where full shafts resulted in a significant increase in timber volume. Considering new alternatives in the planning of harvesting in forest management for N. pumilio forests, such as the system of complete shafts, allows obtaining higher harvesting rates, increasing the benefits for the forestry company and minimizing the damage to the forest, due to the shorter distance of the machinery in the forest harvesting.