Postharvest period

Massantini, R., Carlini, P., and Anelli, G., NIR spectroscopy in evaluation of fruit and vegetable quality during the postharvest period, Industrie Alimentari (Pinerolo, Italy), 36, 321-326, 1997. 

A wide range of microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, viruses, and mycoplasms) mediate substantial losses to crop plants during both the production phase and postharvest period. While Jerusalem... 

Demethylation and consequent loss of nicotine (Yoshida, 1971) in tobacco leaves during the postharvest period is important commercially, because nomicotine is less toxic than nicotine. These postharvest pro-... 

An important factor determining the efficacy of radiation treatment of tubers and bulbs is the time delay between harvest and irradiation. The sprout inhibition is most pronounced if the irradiation of tubers and bulbs is applied shortly after harvest, when they are still in their dormancy stage. However, the dormancy period may vary among cultivars and cropping season, and is also dependent on the postharvest storage temperature. 

Several postharvest treatments to citrus fruits have been tested in an effort to improve the quality of the extracted juice. Bruemmer and Roe subjected citrus fruits to anaerobic conditions for periods of 20 to 32 hours at 32.2 to 43°C (228, 229). This treatment reduced the titratable acidity and increased the Brix-acid ratio by about 10%. The decrease in acidity was accompanied, however, by a 20-fold increase in ethanol (229). Since the soluble solids-acid ratio is a major criterion of citrus juice quality, this procedure, if perfected, could allow earlier harvesting of fruit and a more consistent supply of fruit during the processing season. Bitterness of products from navel oranges, lemons, and grapefruit is related to limonin content. A 3-hour treatment of fruit with 20 ul ethylene/1 of air lowered the limonin content, reduced bitterness, and the juice was judged more palatable than juice from untreated fruit (230). 

Singh and Sumbali (2000) demonstrated that mature jujube fruits are a favorable substrate for infection and aflatoxin production by A. flavus strains. Among the mycoflora on the surface of jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana) A. flavus consistently was recorded during the entire period of fruit development. Fifty isolates of A. flavus isolated from the preharvest fruits caused extensive postharvest rot of mature jujube when inoculated. When all of these isolates were also screened for their aflatoxigenic potential in mature jujube, 54% of the isolates tested positive for different aflatoxins (Bi, B2, Gi, and G2) at levels ranging from 31 to 2874 pg/kg. 

Firmness, Soluble Solids and Acidity Changes. During the postharvest ripening period, the changes in firmness, soluble solids, pH and acidity of kiwifruit at 20°C in the presence of 5 ppm ethylene gas are shown in Table I. 

The objectives of this study were (1) to compare relative bundled postharvest stash yields by stand type and (2) to monitor moismre content changes over a 4-month period during outdoor storage of the bundles. 

One of the prime goals of food processing or preservation is to convert perishable foods snch as fruits and vegetables into stabilized products that can be stored for extended periods of time to reduce their postharvest losses. Processing extends the availability of seasonal commodities, retaining their nutritive and esthetic values, and adds variety to the otherwise monotonous diet. It adds convenience to the products. In particular it has expanded the markets of fruit and vegetable products and ready-to-serve convenience foods all over the world, the per capita consumption of which has rapidly increased during the past two to three decades. 

In postharvest studies of tobacco, initial dry weight is often the basis for calculation and evaluation. However, there is usually dry matter loss from biochemical change during the observation period. It is therefore advisable to determine corrected weights based on the concentrations of inert components such as calcium (Frankenburg 1950). The method for calcium by atomic absorption as carried out in the Agronomy Department of the University of Kentucky follows ... 

Postharvest handling and storage conditions such as packaging, relative hiunidity, temperature, light, and storage period may affect the content of bioactive compounds in berries (Nunes et al. 2009 Mullen et al. 2002). Flavor characteristics such as total acidity and total soluble solids as well as pigment compounds such as anthocyanins play an im-... 

In nonwoven covered crops where the harvest period is shortened by delaying first harvest, there is likely to be less need for chemicals close to the first harvest. Other important benefits of a shortened harvest period are better scheduling of fields to be harvested and of labour to be assigned to harvest and postharvest operations, which implies benefits in the management of fruit processing, packaging, and delivery to markets, together with better in-farm product traceability. 

The treatment of oilseed plants during the growing period leaves only very low or undetectable pesticide residues, but the risk of contamination is significantly higher in the case of postharvest application of pesticides. In particular, relatively lipophilic... 

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