► COURSE # Hort-506

► COURSE TITLE: Pre and Post Harvest

Technology of Horticultural
Crops

► Course Teacher: Dr. Nadeem Akhtar Abbasi

► Course Objectives & Outcomes

To acquaint the students with new advances
in pre and post harvest management
technology of horticultural crops.
To produce technical and skilled persons in
the area of post harvest technology.
To educate the students about the value
addition in horticultural products.
– Let the students evaluate the gap
between local prevailing
conditions of fruit, flower &
vegetable markets and the
recommended techniques.
–
– On completion of this course
students should be able to
describe causes of pre & post
harvest losses of horticultural
produce.
–
– Students should be able to suggest
possible solutions to reduce
these losses in scenario of local
 Theory
Week No. Course Description
1. Introduction & importance; Preharvest factors
affecting postharvest quality
•
2.

Factors affecting postharvest quality
3. Climacteric and non-climacteric commodities
4. Indices of fruit maturity/ripening of important
horticultural plants
5. Indices of fruit maturity/ripening of important
horticultural plants
6. Harvesting and curing/ripening of different fruits
7. Harvesting and curing/ripening of different fruits
8. Harvesting and curing/ripening of different
vegetables
9. Harvesting and curing of different flowers
10 Packing house operations (culling, grading, washing,
cleaning, coloring, waxing and packing of important
fruits, vegetables and flowers)
11 Packing house operations (culling, grading, washing,
cleaning, coloring, waxing and packing of important
fruits, vegetables and flowers)
12 Packing materials and containers

13 Storage (Principles and types)

14 Shipment of fruits for local & foreign markets

15 Shipment of vegetables for local and foreign markets.

16 Student presentations
 Practical
Week No. Course Description

1. Determination of harvest indices

2. Determination of harvest indices
3. Practices in harvesting
4. Practices in harvesting
5. Grading
6. Grading
7. Curing techniques
8. Packing techniques

9. Packing techniques
10 Machinery and equipments used for various operations
11 Machinery and equipments used for various operations
12 Visits to the fruit market
13 Visits to the vegetable market
14 Visits to floral markets
15 packing houses visit
16 Cold storages visit
 Methodology
• Lectures -Most topics will be covered by
consulting most appropriate literature multimedia
and over head projector are used as teaching
aids. Soft copy of each lecture is made available
to students after each lecture, to eliminate the
need for extensive note taking in class.
• Presentations – Last week of semester is
reserved for student presentations
• Text Book – Time to time handouts and copies
of research articles are provided to the students.
Printed and electronic materials will be made
available throughout the semester, and will form
the body of course content.
• EVALUATION
– Mid and Final Exams –The students
will be evaluated by conducting mid
and final exams as per the schedule of
the examination branch, UAAR.
– Assignment - The class will be divided
into different groups, each comprising
of 2-3 students. Each group will
identify an issue that is relevant to the
course content. More details regarding
the assignment will be made available
during the course of study.
– Attendance Policies- only those
students are allowed to sit in exams
who full fill the attendance
requirement as per university rules.
 Books Recommended
• Kalia. M. 2006, Post harvest Technology of
vegetables. Agrotech Publishing
Academy. SSS Printers New Delhi.
• Bhattacharjee S. K and L.C. De. 2005, Post-
Harvest Technology of Flowers and
Ornamental Plants. Pointer Publishers
jaipur India.
• Burg, P. S. 2004, Post harvest Physiology
and Hypobaric Storage of Fresh Produce.
CABI Publishing.
• Choudhry, M. L and K. V. Parsad. 2003, Value
Addition in Horticulture. Delhi Agri-
Horticultural Society. Division of
Floriculture and Landscaping Indian
Agricultural Research Institute Pusa, New
Delhi-110 012.
– Kader, A. A. 2002, Post harvest Technology of
Horticultural Crops. University of
California. Agriculture and Natural
Resources Publication 3311.
– Mitra, S.K. (1997). Post harvest Physiology and
Storage of Tropical and Sub tropical Fruits.
CAB International, Wallingford, U.K.
Tnompson, A.K. (1996). Post-harvest
Technology of Fruits and Vegetables.
Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford.
– Wills, R. B. H., T. H. Lee, D. Graham, W. B.
McGlasson and E. G. Hall (1989). Post-
Harvest (3rd Ed.). BSP Professional Books,
Oxford.
– O’ Breen, M, B.F. Garill and R.B. Findlay
(1983). Principles and Practices for
harvesting of Fruits and Nuts. AVI pub Co.
Inc., Westport, Connecticut.
 Importance
• Produce more food
– More emphasis was given
• Conserve the food
– Ignored and resulted in heavy losses of
horticultural products.
• 5-25% in developed countries


• 20-50% in developing countries

•
• Depends upon
– commodity
– cv.
– Handling conditions
–
• To reduce losses, producers &
handlers must understand:


– Biological factors & Environmental

factors involved in Deterioration


– Postharvest techniques:
• To delay senescence
• Maintain best possible quality
• Value addition
• Preharvest Factors:
– Mineral Nutrition
• Peaches and nectarines under California
conditions should be between 2.6 –
3.0% leaf nitrogen.
• High levels stimulate vegetative growth,
delays fruit maturity, poor red color
development and inhibits ground color
change from green to yellow.
• High N level also resulted in high water
loss from fruit during postharvest as
compared to low N content.
• N deficiency leads to small fruit with
poor flavor and unproductive trees.
• High levels of N result in more
susceptibility to Brown rot in stone
fruits.
• High N contents increase postharvest
disorders:
– Gray wall or internal browning in
tomatoes
– Hollow stem of broccoli
– Fruit spot in peppers
–
• Ca has been
implicated in
many disorders:
– Bitter pit in apple
– Corkspot in pear
– Blackheart in
celery
– Blossom end rot
in tomato
– Cavity spot and
cracking in
carrot
– Tipburn of lettuce
 

• Irrigation
– Amount and timing of water
application:
• Irrigation cutoff 20 days before harvest
can increase SSC in tomatoes
• Over irrigation in melons can result in
low SSC and fruit rots.
• Rapid growth from irrigation following
extended drought may result in growth
cracks in carrots, potatoes, tomatoes
etc.
• Over irrigated strawberry shortly before
harvest results in softer fruits, more
susceptible to bruising and decay
 – Mulching
– Soil type
– Cultivar and rootstock genotype:
• Taste, yield, nutrient composition, postharvest
life
• Proper genotype can reduce severity of decay,
insect damage and physiological disorders.
– Climatic conditions:
• Temperature
• Light intensity
• Humidity
– GAP
• Recommended cultural practices
• Food safety issues
•
 Fruits, Veg., & Ornamentals
are living tissues
• Postharvest changes cannot be
stopped
• Can be slowed down within certain
limits
•
• Senescence; final stage in
development
– Series of irreversible events leads to
breakdown and death of cells
 Fresh Hort. Crops
• High in water content
– Subject to desication
• Wilting
• Shriveling
– Mechanical injury
– Susceptible to bacteria & fungi
• Pathological breakdown
 Postharvest factors
• Biol. Factors: deterioration
• Respiration:
– Stored org. mat.: carbohydrates,
proteins, fats >>> simple end
products & energy
– O2 used, CO2 produced
– Results in:
• Loss of stored food reserves
• Reduced food value
• Loss of flavour (sweetness)
• Loss of salable dry wt.
• Respiration:


– Rate of deterioration (Perishability)

proportional to resp. rate.


– Hort. Commodities calssified

according to resp. rate as in Table.

Horticultural commodities classified according
to respiration rates

 Range at 5ºC (41ºF)


Class (mg CO2/kg-hr)* Commodities
• Very Low <5 dates, dried
fruits and vegetables, nuts
• Low 5-10 Apple, beet, celery, citrus
fruits, cranberry, garlic, grape,
honeydew melon, kiwifruit, onion, papaya,
persimmon, pineapple, pomegranate, potato
(mature), pumpkin, sweet
potato, watermelon, winter squash.
• Moderate 10-20 Apricot, banana, blueberry,
cabbage, cantaloupe, carrot
(topped), celeriac, cherry, cucumber, fig,
gooseberry, lettuce (head), mango,
nectarine, olive, peach, pear plum, potato (
immature), radish (topped), sum,
mer squash, tomato
• High 20-40 Avocado, Blackberry,
carrot (with tops),Blackberry
carrot (with tops) cauliflower ,
leek , lettuce (leaf) lima bean radish
(radish (with tops)
raspberry, strawberry
•
• Very high 40-60 Artichoke, bean sprouts,
broccolil, Brussels
 sprouts, cherimoya, cut
flowers, endive,
green onions, kale , okra,
passion fruit , snap bean ,
watercress


• Extremely high >60 Asparagus,

mushroom, parsley,
peas,
spinach sweet corn
• Note: Vital heat (Btu/ton/24 hrs) = mg CO2/kg-hr *220
• Vital heat (Kcal / 1,000 kg/24 hrs )= mg CO2/kg-hr*61.2
• Based on resp. and C2H4 prod.
Patterns during maturation and
ripening: climacteric, non-
climacteric
•
• Climacteric fruits show large increase
in CO2 and C2H4 prod. Rates
coincident with ripening


• Non-climacteric show no change in

their generally low CO2 and C2H4
prod. Rates during ripening
 Fruits classified according to respiratory
behavior during ripening


Climacteric fruits
 non-climacteric fruits


• Apple Muskmelon Blackberry Lychee

• Apricot Nectarine Cacao Okra
• Avocado Papaya Carambola Olive Banana
Passion fruit Orange Biriba Peach
Cherry Pea
• Blueberry Pear Cranberry Pepper
• Breadfruit Persimmon Cucumber Pineapple
• Cherimoya Plantain Date Pomegra
• Durian Plum Eggplant Prickly per
• Feijoa Quince Grape Raspberry
• Fig Rambutan Grapefruit Strawberr
• Guava Sapodilla Jujube Sumer sq
• Jackfruit Sapote Lemon Tamarillo
• Kiwifruit Soursop Lime Tangerine
• Mandarin
• Mango Sweetsop Longan
• Mangosteen Tomato Loquat Watermelon
 Ethylene Production
• Simplest org. compounds affecting
phys. Processes
• Nat. prod. Of plant metabolism,
produced by all tissues of higher
plants and some microorganisms
• This pl. hormone regulates many
aspects of:
– Growth, development and senescence
– Physiol. Active in trace amounts (<0.1
ppm)
Ethylene cycle

Aminoethoxyvinylglycine
Aminooxyacetic Acid
Classification of horticultural commodities according
to ethylene (C2H4) production rates
 Range at 20ºC (68ºF)


 Class (mg C2H4/kg-hr)* Commodities____________

• Very Low less than 0.1 Artichoke, asparagus, cauliflower
cherry, citrus fruits, grape, jujube
strawberry, pomegranate, leafy vegetables,
root vegetables, potato, most cut flowers
•
• Low 0.1-1.0 Blackberry, blueberry, casaba melon,
 Cranberry, cucumber, eggplant, okra,
olive, pepper (sweet and chili),
persimmon, pineapple, raspberry, tamarillo,
watermelon.


• Moderate 1.0-10.0 Banana, Fig, guava, honeydew melon,

 Lychee, mango, plantain, tomato.

 High 10.0-100.0 Apple, apricot, avocado,
cantaloupe, feijoa, Kiwifruit
(ripe), nectarine, papaya, peach,
pear, plum.


 Very high More than 100.0 Cherimoya, mammee apple,

passion fruit, sapote.
• No consistent relationship bet. C2H4
prod. Rates & perishability


• Exposure to C2H4 accelerates

senescence


• C2H4 prod. Rates increase with:

– Maturity
– Physical injuries
– Disease incidence
– Increased temp. up to 30C
– Water stress
 C2H4 Prod. Decreased by:


–Storage at low temp.



– Reduced O2 levels (<8%)



– Elevated CO2 levels (>2%)

 Compositional Changes
• Loss of chlorophyll (green color) is desirable in fruits but not
in vegetables.


• Development of carotenoids (yellow and orange colors) is

desirable in fruits such as apricots, peaches, and citrus.
Red color development in tomatoes and pink grape fruit is
due to a specific carotenoid (lycopene); beta carotene is
provitamin A and thus is important in nutritional quality.


• Development of anthocyanins (red and blue colors) is

desirable in fruits such as apples (red cultivars), cherries,
strawberries, crane berries, and red-flesh oranges. These
water soluble pigments are much less stable than
carotenods.


• Changes in anthocyanins and other phenolic compounds may

result in tissue browning which is undesirable for
appearance quality. On the other hand, these constituents
contribute to the total antioxidant capacity of the
commodity, which is beneficial to human health.
• Carbohydrates (starch)>>sugar
is undesirable in potato but +
in apple


• Sugar to starch, - in peas, sweet

corn but + in potatoes


• Loss in vitamin content (vit. C),

nutr. Qual.


• Prod. Of flavour volatiles with rip.

+ eating quality
 Growth & Development
• Sprouting potatoes, onions, garlic,
root crops
• Continuous growth of asparagus
spears after harvest, elongation,
curvature>> increased toughness,
palatability
• Geotropic responses in cut glad.,
snapdragon
• Seed germination inside fruits,
tomatoes, peppers, lemons
 Transpiration/water loss
• Quantity loss
• Appearance
• Textural quality (softening, flaccidity,
limpness, loss of crispness &
juiciness)
• Nutritional quality
 Transpiration rate, factors

• Internal (commodity) factors:

– Morphological, anatomical, surface to
vol. ratio, surface injuries and mat.
stage
• External or environmental
– Temp., RH, air movement and
atmospheric pressure
• Outer protective coverings:
– Cuticle, epidermal cells, stomata,
lenticels, trichome (hairs)
 Cuticle:
– surface waxes, cutin in wax,
layer of mix. Of cutin, wax and
carbohydrate polymers


– Thickness, structure, chemical

composition
varies>>>commodity and dev.
stage
 Control
• Apply
– Waxes
– Other surface coatings
– Wrapping with plastic films
 Manipulation of environ.
 High RH
 Controlling air circulation
 Physiological breakdown
• Exposure to undesirable temps.:
– Freezing injury
• Held at below freezing temp. of
commodity
• Collapse of tissues
• Total loss of commodity
• Chilling injury
–Tropical and subtropical
–Above freezing, 5-15C
–More prominent on transfer
to higher temp.
–Surface and internal
discoloration, Pitting, Water
soaked areas, uneven
ripening or failure, off-
flavour, accelerated dev. Of
surface molds and decay
• Heat injury
– Direct sunlight or excessive high
temp.
– Bleaching, surface burning, scalding,
uneven ripe, excessive softening
and desiccation.


• Preharvest nutritional imbalance

– Blossom end rot of tomatoes, bitter
pit of apples>> Ca def.
• Low O2 or High CO2 injury, C2H4
– <1% O2
– >20% CO2
Physical damage


• Surface injuries
• Impact bruising
• Vibration bruising
– Browning (membrane
disruption>>phenoli
c comps. To PPO).
– These injuries are
unsightly, accelerate
water loss, fungal
infection, stimulate
CO2 & C2H4
production.
• PATHOLOGICAL
BREAKDOWN
•
• Bacteria & fungi
• Mostly after physical or
physiological
breakdown except
few pathogens
• Mostly fruits & veg.
exhibit considerable
resistance
• Onset of ripening &
senes., susceptible
• Stresses: mech. Injury,
chilling, sunscald
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS,
DETERIORATION

• TEMPERATURE:
– Most influential factor
– For each 10C above optimum, rate
of deterioration > 2-3 folds.
 Table:
Effect of temperature on deterioration
rate of a non-chilling-sensitive
commodity
Temperature Assumed Q10 Relative velocity Relative Loss per
(°F) (°C) of deterioration
shelf life day %

32 0 - 1.0 100 1

50 10 3.0 3.0 33 3

68 20 2.5 7.5 13 8

86 30 2.0 15.0 7 14

104 40 1.5 22.5 4 25

Note: *Q10 = Rate of deterioration at temperature (T) + 10oC

Rate of deterioration at T
TEMPERATURE contd….
– Temp. also influences effect of
C2H4, reduced O2 & elevated
CO2.
– Spore germination & growth rate
of pathogens
– If stored at below 5C immediately
after harvest can reduce
incidence of Rhizopus rot
TEMPERATURE contd….

• Temp. responses of chilling

sensitive & nonchilling
sensitive hort. Crops
• Table:
 Fruits & Vegetables classified
according to sensitivity to chilling
injury
 CHILLING INJURY SYMPTOMS

üfailureof fruits to ripen

üincreased susceptibility to decay
ü
CHILLING INJURY SYMPTOMS

üpeel and pulp discoloration

üpitting
üloss of aroma and flavor
ü
 Fruits and vegetable classified according to sensitivity to

chilling injury
Group I Group II
Fruits Vegetable Fruits Vegetable
Apple Artichoke Avocado Beans, snap
Apricot Beans, lima Banana Cassava
Blackberry Beet Citrus Cucumber
Blueberry Broccoli Cranberry Eggplant
Cherry Brussels sprouts Durian Ginger
Currant Cabbage Guava Muskmelon
Date Carrot Jackfruit Okra
Fig Cauliflower Lychee Peppers
Grape Celery Mango Potato
Kiwifruit Corn, sweet Mangosteen Pumpkin
Loquat Garlic Olive Squash
Nectarine Lettuce Papaya Sweet potato
Peach Mushrooms Passion fruit Taro
Persimmons Onion Pineapple Tomato
Plum Peas Pomegranate Watermelon
Prune Radish Prickly pear Yam
Raspberry Spinach Rambutan -
Strawberry Turnip Tamarillo -
 RELATIVE HUMIDITY
• Rate of water loss : vapor pressure
deficit between commodity and
surrounding ambient air temp.
which is influenced by temp. & RH.
• At a given RH water loss increases
with temp.
ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION
• Reduction of O2 & elevation of CO2
• Intentional (modified or CA storage)
• Unintentional (restricted vent. In
container)
• Can delay or accelerate deterioration
• Depends:
– Commodity, cv., physiological age, O2
& CO2 levels, temp. & duration.
 ETHYLENE
• Effect can be desirable or
undesirable:
• Can promote faster & uniform
ripening
• Exposure of nonfruit vegs. &
ornamentals to C2H4 is
detrimental to quality.
 LIGHT
• Greening in potatoes:
–formation of chlorophyl &
solanine (toxic to
humans).
 OTHER FACTORS

• Chemicals:
– Fungicides, growth regulators
can affect biological
deterioration factors.
 Definitions
• Development
– The series of process from the initiation of
growth to death of a plant or plant part.
• Growth
– The irreversible increase in physical attributes
of a developing plant or plant part.
• Maturation
– The stage of development leading to the
attainment of physiological or horticultural
maturity
• Horticulture Maturity
– The stage of development when a plant or
plant part possesses the prerequisites for
utilization by consumers for a particular
• Physiological Maturity
– The stage of development when a plant or
plant part will continue ontogeny even if
detached
• Ripening
– The composite of the processes that occur
from the later stage of growth and
development through the early stage of
senescence and that result in characteristic
esthetic and food quality, as evidenced by
change in composition, color, texture, or
other sensory attributes.
• Senescence
– Those processes that follow physiological
maturity or horticultural maturity and lead
to death of tissue
• Aging
– Any increment of time which may or may not
be accompanied by physiological change.
 Indices of Maturity
► Measurements that can be used to
determine maturity of the commodity
ØTrade Regulation
• Regulations published by legally authorities
•
• Minimum & maximum maturity acceptable for
a given commodity

ØMarketing Strategy
• Price incentive for the earliest or latest
shipments of any commodity
•
• Grower take advantage of premium price
-