1.

INTRODUCTION
Post harvest treatment is very important to minimize post harvest losses after harvest. There are so many causes of losses after harvest such as biological factors, microbiological, psychological, mechanical, physical, and chemical, etc. These losses in serious condition would create a major economic impact for the farmer. Thus, serious treatment after harvest is needed urgently to fix these problems. In modern countries, technology for post harvest treatment is vastly used and is very advanced compared to developing countries. This condition should be given serious attention, especially in this globalization era, which uality of any product must to be increased to standard, if we want to survive in this hard!time!for!developing!country. "rom this report, we will try to see post harvest management of green vegetable, in this case, lettuce, in our country. #e will $now how lettuce is harvested, shipped, and handled in traditional methods. This information then will be compared with modern lettuce treatment. #e hope that this survey report will be useful for those who read it and it will ade uate to give information for those who needed it. %ettuce is a cool!weather crop, and growing it in hot weather ta$es special care. &andungan, our survey site is a cool place 'which ma$e it suitable for resort place(, thus lettuce is easily grown there. %uc$ily, lettuce is attac$ed by relatively few insect pests, primarily aphids and thrips. &oth are fairly well controlled with insecticide soap, such as )!Pede* brand 'also sold to gardeners as the +afer* brand(. If the water is hard, the spray solution should be mixed with softened or distilled water because the calcium in hard water se uesters the fatty acids and greatly reduces the potency of the spray. )any greens crops are poor competitors with weeds. ,dditionally, weeds growing within rows can inadvertently be harvested along with the crop and contaminate the product. ,s a result, considerable effort may be expended in cultivation and hand weeding to assure a clean field. -reen %eaf %ettuce is one of the most popular vegetables that we usually eat. It contains some $ind of nutrition value.

Serving Size: 1-1/2 cups, shredded Amount Per Serving After Cooking Calories Sodium Dietary Fiber 15 Total Fat 2g Protein 0g 1g 30mg Total Carbohydrates 4g

General Information: There are four categories of lettuce/ crisp head, butter head, leaf and romaine. %eaf lettuce is distinguished from other varieties of lettuce in that it doesn0t have a 1head.1 2a$ leaf, red leaf and green leaf are all leaf lettuces. They are crisp and flavorful, but generally more perishable than head lettuces. They are available year!round. Selection and Storage: ,void lettuce with age deterioration/ leaf edges that are slimy or dar$. %ettuce lasts longer if washed when brought home. +oa$ lettuce in a sin$ full of cold water, stirring with hand to loosen dirt. %et sit a few minutes. 3rain and then dry lettuce in a salad spinner or blot with paper towels. It must be dry. +tore loosely wrapped in a paper towel inside a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to one wee$.

2. SURVEY

ET!ODO"OGY

2ur survey methodology is direct field survey and Internet surfing to gain more information. #e surveyed -ang baru Traditional mar$et in +emarang, and traditional mar$et and lettuce field in &andungan. &andungan is a nice place estimately one our away from +emarang. &andungan has $nown for its vegetables and fruits production, its veggies mar$et, and a resort place for +emarang citizen. #ithin &andungan, there are several mar$ets, motels, hotels, and villas. &eside that, there are villages near the place that produces veggies and fruits such as lettuce. The Internet surfing is needed to obtain information about modern treatment of lettuce and green veggies. #e have to surf the Internet since such information is not available in boo$s at the campus library. This information is needed to be compared with actual condition of post harvest treatment of lettuce in our survey site.

#. RE$ORT %INDING

5..

&andungan first visit

,s mentioned before, we surveyed two main places, which are +emarang '-ang baru mar$et( and &andungan '&andungan mar$et and lettuce field(. 2ur first visit to &andungan was useless and did not even worth the effort. ,t that time, we didnt obtain any useful information. #e as$ed some greengrocers about the lettuce they sold. They said that the lettuce was grown by local farmer on their own field at villages around &andungan. They said that the lettuce, along with other veggies that produced there, are just sold at &andungan mar$et not distributed to other places such as +emarang. #e also visit the place of the farmer. )r #awan is a vegetables farmer, which is also a 6ru$un tetangga7 chief at local village. 8e owns a medium sized field, which he uses to plant various vegetables at once. 8is small portions of field were grown with lettuce, while the other portion is grown with carrot, etc. #hen we as$ed about the exact size of his field, he simply said the he doesnt $now. 8is field is shapeless, not s uare or round, so it might be hard to measure it. &ut then, maybe he is just not friendly enough to answer our uestions. )r #awan stated that after harvest, there is no treatment at all, he just washed it and stac$ in on a large bas$et. Then somebody will buy it and sell it again in the &andungan mar$et, period. 8is lettuce then would end in the mar$et right away, sold out by the green grocer. ,t that time, we didnt $now that there is a central mar$et ',sem )ar$et( at &andungan, which is used for shipping large!scale products to nearby cities such as semarang. #e went home empty handed, with information not good enough to be presented.

5.4

-ang baru mar$et survey

, few wee$s later, a friend said that there are some green grocers around -ang baru mar$et +emarang which sells lettuce, carrot, and other ordinary veggies. The good news is that the vegetables are always fresh and always available every day. #e immediately went to the place in purpose of survey. #e wanted to $now wheres the veggies come

from and why its always!fresh everyday. )onday, .9 th of 2ctober 4::; 9pm we went to gang the green grocer. The place happens to be just in front of Ivanas house at -ang baru. ,t 9 pm we can still find veggies displayed for sell. "resh lettuce, fresh carrot, fresh cabbage, etc. #e as$ed the nice -reen grocer, which happen to $now Ivana. +he said that those fresh veggies are shipped everyday around 5 pm from &andungan. #e were shoc$ed, since we didnt $now that there are veggies from &andungan that are distributed to +emarang. The green grocer said that the lettuce after she received it could stay fresh for 4 days if $ept inside refrigerator. The next day, Tuesday, .<th of 2ctober 4::; we waited at the same place at around 5 pm for the daily shipment. ,t around = pm the car that shipped the products was finally came. ,s you can see in picture ., the products were shipped using pic$up car. They use a not!transparent!blue!screen to cover the veggies. ,ccording the driver, this screen is used to minimize direct contact of the vegetables against sunlight and dust during &andungan ! +emarang trip. The primary pac$age for the lettuce is a big plait bas$et, covered with some $ind of cloth. ,s you can see in picture 4.

5.5

&andungan second visit. The lettuce field survey

,ccording the driver, they departed from &andungan mar$et at around 5 pm. ,t the end of the wee$, +aturday 44nd of 2ctober, we went to &andungan again. This time, with a better destination. #e got to &andungan at around > am, and went straight to the mar$et. #e as$ed a green grocer, she said that the place for shipment is at the central mar$et, not at the local mar$et. #e obtained information that the central shipment of these veggies is at the mar$et, &andungan. ,s you can see in picture 5 #e went to the central mar$et, and scour the place for information. The central mar$et is located at about . $m away from &andungan to ,mbarawa direction. #e found that the central mar$et is not as lively as it should be. #ell, maybe because it was still the fasting month. There some people told us that the shipment should come soon at .. am.

They said that a pic$ up car should arrive at the place after they pic$ed up the freshly harvested veggies directly from the field. These nice people also told us the place of the lettuce field. The name was )ejeng village, and some other villages. The nearest place was )ejeng village, just infront of &andungan Indah 8otel in semarang direction. #e rushed to place, and found out that some farmers were harvesting at that time. 8ow luc$y we were.. ?ust beside the road, there were two female farmers harvesting lettuce in a field. ,s you can see in picture =. They directly pic$ed the ;:!days!grown lettuce from the soil and washed it in a small pond. 8eres the pond as you can see in picture ;. +he said that they washed in the irrigation channel, but we doubt it since an irrigation channel should be flowed with water. The pond they wash the lettuce in is filled with not!flowing water. The farmer stated that the field was her own. &ut then again, when we as$ed the size of the field, she said that she has no idea about it. #e also as$ed her another uestion li$e post harvest management of the lettuce. +he explained that after harvest, she washed the lettuce while at the same time hand sorting the damaged leaves. ,fter that she tied a bundle of these lettuces with some $ind of rope and set them in a big plaited bas$et. The same bas$et, which weve seen in -ang baru mar$et. Picture @. +he said that soon, around .4 pm, a buyer using pic$up car would be there to buy and pic$ed it up using the pic$ up. +he stated that she gave no other treatment to the crops beside that.

5.= Aentral mar$et survey

#e then went bac$ to central mar$et to see the shipment of the crops. ,t the central mar$et around 4 pm, the products were delivered by the pic$up to the mar$et for a short wait. +oon, another car would pic$ it up and delivered it to the destinations, such as +emarang. ,ccording to our observation, the crop at this condition is not given any post major post harvest treatment li$e chemical spray, sealed box, etc. The lettuce is simply shipped from this mar$et using pic$up car 'still using the big plaited bas$et(. This condition indicates that post harvest management of lettuce from bandungan is still at

low level or we can say, still using traditional method. The mar$et is shown in picture 9. Its shown that the car from the field is already of loaded by local laborer for next car that shipped the crop to +emarang. It ma$es sense if the shipment everyday reaches +emarang '-ang &aru mar$et( at around 5!= pm.

&. SURVEY RESU"T

#e can conclude systematically the plot of lettuce distribution from bandungan to semarang with explanation about the post harvest management applied to the lettuce/ .. %ettuce is ready to be harvested

4. %ettuce is harvested

3uring the harvest, the farmers doesnt give any particular treatment to the lettuce, they simply washed it using water 'note that the water they used is not clean(. Then the lettuce is tied and set into a bas$et. The lettuce is hand sorted during this time. 5. Transport from lettuce field to central mar$et

"rom the field, after bough by another people, the lettuce is send to the central mar$et by a pic$ up car. The lettuce at this point is stac$ed with other veggies, and still contained in a plaited bas$et. The pic$ up car is not even covered with any protection from neither dust nor sunlight. The distance from the field to central mar$et, estimately is about 5 $m. 2r maybe .: minute trip by car. =. Transport from central mar$et to -ang baru mar$et semarang

"rom central mar$et to +emarang, they use another pic$ up car. The lettuce at this point is stac$ed with other veggies, and still contained in a plaited bas$et, the difference is that this time, they covered up the vegetables. The trip from Aentral mar$et '&andungan( to -ang baru mar$et '+emarang( is about . hour. ;. The lettuce is sold at central mar$et and bought out by semarang citizen.

,t gang baru mar$et, the lettuce is displayed and sold. ,ccording the greengrocer, the lettuce will start to wither the next day. If $ept inside refrigerator at night, it will remain fresh for maximum two days. "inally the lettuces journey ended from the field to our stomach. "rom the survey we get some information that explains how the treatment of the lettuce after harvested. The lettuce is directly pic$ed up from the soil and washed it in a small pond. +he washed the lettuce while at the same time hand sorting the damaged leaves. The water of the pond is not so cleanB this is probably an important point which fastens

the deterioration of the lettuce. The actual time of our survey at this progress is at about .. am. There is no other treatment to the crops beside that. +he has not used any $ind of pesticides to the lettuce. ,fter the lettuce is set into the big plaited bas$et, its ready to be transported to central mar$et. The pic$ up car is not even covered with any protection from neither dust nor sunlight. The distance from the field to central mar$et, estimately is about .: minute trip by car. The actual time of the lettuce reached central mar$et is at about . or 4 pm. "rom central mar$et to +emarang, the lettuce is delivered by another pic$ up car, this time they use some $ind of screen impenetrable by sunlight or dust. This might be due the trip is about . hour length. Aontinuous exposure of heat from sunlight and dust might be unacceptable for the condition of the lettuce. The actual time of the lettuce left central mar$et is at about 4 or 5 pm. ,t the -ang &aru mar$et the lettuce is displayed open air without any other treatment. &ut certain thatched roof of palm leavesB get the lettuce free from direct sunlight. ,ccording the green grocer, the lettuce will stay fresh and sellable for another day. "rom the explanation above, we can see how 6traditional7 is our 6traditional method7 of post harvest treatment 'in this case, lettuce(.

'. DISCUSSION
,fter we do the survey we $now that the farmer use traditional method in post harvest treatment for the lettuce. They have not use any $ind of pesticides and only use a water to clean the lettuce from the soil. ,fter that lettuce set into the big bas$et, thats it. Its the easiest way to handling the lettuce after harvested. &ut maybe because there is no other thing besides washing with waters the shelf life can not be the same if the farmer use modern treatment. "rom the farmer we $now that the lettuce will get decomposed after . day if left without any treatment. It can happen because the treatment is very simple. "or the farmer the treatments are cheap and easy to do. "rom the reference we $now that post harvest treatment can be done in two methods, that is traditional method

<

and modern method. "rom the survey we conclude the method that the farmer use is traditional method. &ut we conclude that these post harvest treatment that is applied to the lettuce is good enough. #e can say this from the economic aspect and its easy to do even for the farmer that doesnt have high level of education. The purpose of post harvest treatment is/ Prevent from physical injury. Cecover the injuries that already happen. 2bstruct the spoil Dill and obstruct the blooming of microorganism et(od

Traditional

The first things that the farmer do after harvesting the lettuce is clean it with water in small water pond. ,fter that they set lettuce into the bas$et and it ready to transport to other place. The method is very easy to do and its cheap. The farmer only needs some $ind of water pond, some rope, and big plaited bas$et. &ut even the treatment is very simpleB the shelf life of the lettuce is fine it can be still in fresh condition in . day if we $ept it at normal temperature and 4 day if we $ept it at refrigerator. #ashing the lettuce with water is to protect the lettuce from microorganism, soil, and waste. Protect the consumer from toxic content 'before the vegetables harvested maybe the farmer spray them with pesticides(. )a$es the vegetables loo$ing fresh and so it can attract the consumer. &efore the farmer washes the lettuce they cut the damage E spoiled part of lettuce. The function of this method is to prevent other part of lettuce getting spoiled to. &eside that it can help the next treatment for the lettuce. ,ctually, washing lettuce with water can ma$e the guard layer outside the lettuce bro$en. ,fter the lettuce is washed with water it has to be dried because the water particles can enter to the lettuce. It can ma$e the lettuce getting softer beside that if the water contains bacteria it can ma$e the lettuce spoiled.

>

odern

et(od

,fter we understand the traditional method, especially in lettuce post harvest treatment, we also must $now what the modern method is, too. &ut, the example of execution of this method is rarely found in Indonesia. ,gain, li$e previous discussion 'in traditional method(, we can understand why all this can happen. ,fter we searching and observed in some boo$s and also from the internet, we $now that the modern method from the post!harvest handling of green vegetables 'in our case/ lettuce( in the reality have done ordinary in Furope, ,merica and other developed countries. In fact, the principal of the modern method is how to control and handle the ethylene production of the green vegetables. "irst of all, before we study further more, we must $now what ethylene is. Fthylene 'A484( is a colorless gas, a well $nown plant hormone, produced in varying uantities by most plants. It induces senescence of the leaves and promotes ripening of fruits thus decreasing storability and shelf!life. ,t room temperature, ethylene will rapidly affect plant material, but, under cold storage conditions '5!=:A( its effects are slower. &ased on the information about how ethylene wor$s and produced, we can understand some method in post harvest handling. This method can be classified in the modern method. "irst method is using the controlled atmosphere. Fthylene have good wor$ in ripening only in room temperature, it is the principal of controlled atmosphere. Table .. Cecommended storage conditions for greenhouse vegetables. Tem)erat*re +,CC*c*m0er1 "ett*ce2 (ead "ett*ce2 leaf $e))er1 Tomatoe12 green Tomatoe12 ri)e .:!.5 : : .:!.4 .4!.5 4!; !*midit. Relati/e >:!>; >; >; >:!>; <;!>: >: Storage "ife .:!.= 4!5 wee$s 5!@ days .!4 wee$s 4!5 wee$s 5!; days

.:

#e can study from the table above, from this table, we $now that the lettuce from this controlled atmosphere have a better shelf life '5!@ days(, especially if compared with traditional method. &eside the controlled temperature, humidity is also becoming one of the factors. &ut it does not mean that this method doesnt have any wea$ness. ,lthough lower temperatures from the list above can be used to slow down ripening, chilling injury may happen. "rom this method, we $now that the shelf life is increase because the controlled ethylene production. #hat must be paid attention in this method are, though produce of the ethylene is depressed, complete removal of ethylene from the storage facilities is not recommended since ethylene is re uired for normal ripening to occur. +o, the point that we have to do is control the ethylene production and won0t result the spoilage but also won0t result vegetable maturation to be fasten. The second method, which also based on characteristic of ethylene, is modification of the atmosphere within a pac$. Pac$aging the vegetables in a suitably permeable film to e uilibrate at =!@G :4, and =!@G A24 within the pac$age should slow down ripening and increase shelf!life by .:!.= days at room temperature. %ow pressure storage may also increase product storability. Tissue ethylene level is decreased in these facilities because the lower air pressure causes a more rapid loss of ethylene from the tissues into the air. Com)ari1on "rom the short explanation above, we can se that the modern techni ues have better result in the crops shelf life and freshness. &ut the modern techni ues also have much higher cost to be done, more difficult, and ta$e more time. Traditional method is the most favorite method for the farmer, even if the crop wont be able to last long. #e can understand traditional method cost less than the modern method. ,nd also, traditional method is easier to do and doesnt ta$e too much time. In this case, the lettuce treatment is ade uate, in consideration that the lettuce will be sold out just within a day, and the price of the lettuce itself is rather cheap. The price of a

..

bundle of the lettuce is about Cp ;::,::. If the lettuce is given modern methods li$e what weve studied above, the farmer wont be able to endure the production cost. #ith, an increase in production cost, the mar$et price will be increased too. This condition wont be acceptable for such vegetables in the consumer side. That is why the traditional method is much more preferred by our local farmer, as they wont have any technology nor fund to do such improvement.

3. CONC"USION
Post harvest treatment can be done in two methods, that is traditional method and modern method. "rom our survey, we can classified that the lettuce farmer in &andungan using traditional method to harvest lettuce. The purpose of post harvest treatment is prevent from physical injury, recover the injuries that already happen, obstruct the spoil and $ills and obstructs the blooming of microorganism. #ashing the lettuce with water is to protect the lettuce from microorganism, soil, and waste and protect the consumer from toxic content. The traditional method is much more preferred by our local farmer, as they wont have any technology nor fund to do such improvement. )odern method from the post!harvest handling of green vegetables 'in our case / lettuce ( in the reality have done ordinary in Furope, ,merica and other developed countries. The principal of the modern method is how to control and handling the ethylene production of the green vegetables. The modern techni ues have better result in the crops shelf life and freshness but it also has much higher cost to be done, more difficult, and ta$e more time. Aomplete removal of ethylene from the storage facilities is not recommended since ethylene is re uired for normal ripening to occur. %ow pressure storage may also increase product storability.

4. RE%ERENCES

.4

,nonim.'4::=(.-reen %eaf %ettucehttp/ EE farmfresh.lifeware.com E details.asp Hcode I grleaf &achmann, ?. J C.Farles.'4:::(. Postharvest 8andling of "ruits and Kegetables 8orticulture Technical Lote. http/EEattra.ncat.orgEindex.html 8arvey, ?.'4::;(. Autting %ettuce and Keggie1 http/EEwww.pm .comEcgi!

binEttEindex.cgiEnoframesEreadE.9949 Pantastico, FC. &. '.>>5(. "isiologi Pasca Panen, Penanganan dan Pemanfaatan &uah! buahan dan +ayur!sayuran Tropi$a dan +ub!tropi$a. -adjah )ada Mniversity Press. Nogya$arta. Papadopoulos, ,.P. '.>>>(. Title/ Post!8arvest 8andling of -reenhouse Kegetables/ +trategies for the Prevention of Fthylene 3amage http/ EE www.gov.on.ca E)&+ E english Eindex.html Tim Penulis P+. '.>>4(. Pascapanen +ayur. Penebar +wadaya. ?a$arta.

5. 6$$ENDICES

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