Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Principles and Practices of Postharvest
Principles and Practices of Postharvest
HANDLING
OF
PRODUCE
Being living organs, fruits and vegetables continue
to respire even after harvesting when they have a
limited source of food reserves.
Pre-cooled -
Alive &
Happy Not-Precooled
Sick and Die
Effect of pre-cooling
Pre-cooling of the produce soon after their harvest (before
storage/ shipment) is one of the important
components of the cool chain, which ultimately affect
the shelf life of the produce.
Purpose of precooling
remove the field heat from the produce.
To reduce moisture loss
To reduce ethylene production
To reduce respiration
Micro- organism
To increase shelf life
Field heat removal
Without a doubt, the most important factor affecting
postharvest life is temperature.
Advantages:
Produce can be cooled and stored at the same room thus saves on
handling costs
No extra cost for pre-cooling equipment
Suits for crops, which are marketed soon after harvest
Disadvantages:
It is too slow method of cooling
Space requirements for room cooling are more as compared to storage,
thus loss of storage capacity
Unsuitable for packed produce
Excessive water is lost from the produce due to slow cooling.
Horticulture crops suitable for rooms cooling are: Potato, onion, apple and
citrus
ii) Forced-air cooling:
Forced air-cooling is mostly used for wide range of
horticultural produce
This method of cooling not only avoids water loss but may even
add water to the commodity.
Disadvantages :
• Most of the packages don’t tolerate wetting
Advantages :
• Fast and uniform cooling takes place.
• Most energy efficient method.
Disadvantages :
• High capital cost
• Produce losses more moisture
To overcome the more loss of water from the produce, another method of water
spray vacuum is used, (modification of vacuum cooling), called hydro-vac
cooling.
v) Package-icing :
In some commodities, crushed or flaked ice is packed
along with produce for fast cooling.
For the curing of onion and garlic, the bulbs are left
in the field after harvesting under shade for a few
days until the green tops, outer skins and roots are
fully dried.
Process of curing in cut surface of potato
Deposition of suberin in cut surface
Cell below the suberised layer becomes meristematic and give rise
to protective layer of cell i.e. periderm
Dense network of periderm is called phellem
Cultural practices of curing
bending of neck of onion
Dehaulming of potato
Check irrigation before harvesting
Factor affecting curing
Temperature:
slightly higher than growing temp
For hilly areas root crops: 15-25°C
For plain areas root crops: 26-34°C
Relative Humidity:
Favorable RH: 80-95%
High temperature and high RH favors curing
Gases:
Wound healing doesn’t occurs if CO 2 is higher than 10% and oxygen
is less than 5%
5. Waxing
Waxes are esters of higher fatty acid with
monohydric alcohols and hydrocarbons
Examples:
Orange, Mousambi, Kinnow, Grapefruit, Grapes,
Pomegranate, Litchi, Watermelon, Cherry,
Raspberry, Blackberry, Strawberry.
Difference between climateric and non climateric
fruits
Climateric Non climateric
Respiration: sudden rise Respiration: continuous decline
in respiration
Ethylene production: sudden Ethylene production:
rise continuous decline during growth
and ripening
Response to ethylene: once Response to ethylene: keep on
climateric initiated no response to response
ethylene application
Magnitude of response: Magnitude of response:
increase in ethylene application increase in ethylene application
does not cause increased CO2 cause increase in CO2 production
production. There is only shift in
time
Propylene Vs ethylene: we can Propylene Vs ethylene: no
observe internal ethylene ethylene production
production by applying propylene
Sugar and acid content changes Sugar and acid content doesn't
Changes during ripening
Action of Different
enzymes
Pigment changes
Chlorophyll (Green color) - a loss of
chlorophyll in tomatoes is good but a loss in
chlorophyll in broccoli is bad
Carotenoids (Yellow, Orange and Red colors)
- Carotenoids are desirable in fruits such as
apricots, peaches and citrus giving them their
yellow and orange color. In tomatoes and pink
grapefruit a specific carotenoid called
lycopene gives them their red color
Anthocyanins (Red and Blue colors) -
Anthocyanins give red and blue color to
apples, berries, cherries etc.
Phenolic compounds - Are responsible for
tissue browning.
Changes in the firmness
Middle lamella of cell wall is made up of calcium
pectate
Hydrolases synthesised during ripening process
leads to the destruction of cells wall and tissue
Propectin (unripe)
Pectin
Pectinic acid
Ethylene blockage
Treating with silver thiosulphate (commonly used in
flowers);
Hypobaric storage - keeping the commodity under
vacuum;
Elevating CO2 to more than 12%
Genetic engineering (blocking the ethylene receptor)
Regulation of ethylene production by
genetic modification
Abscissic Acid
ABA facilitates initiation and progress in the
sequence of ethylene-mediated ripening
events, possibly by enhancing the sensitivity
to ethylene.
Controlled Atmosphere Storage
and Modified Atmosphere
Packages
Holding produce in an atmosphere
that differs substantially from normal
air in respect to CO2 and O2 levels
Objective of storage:
Regulate the market in an orderly manner.
Avoid glut and distress sale in the market, thus
prolonging the market period.
In long-term storage, making the food available in
off-season.
Know the requirements for the commodities you want to put into
storage, and follow recommendations for proper temperature,
relative humidity and ventilation
Ordinary storage
No any control of environment
e.g. Potato store over the floor
Onion and garlic hang over
Pumpkin stored in dry shelf
Field storage
Storage of produce in trenches or pits
90 16.88 1.88
70 13.13 5.63
50 9.38 9.38
Respiration
Directly proportional to water loss
Rate of cooling
Higher rate of cooling causes more water loss from the
commodity
Air movement
Faster the unsaturated air movement higher will be
water loss
Pressure
Lower the pressure more will be water loss
Temperature
Effect of temperature is on VP/ humidity
Higher temperature will increase vapor pressure of
water
Higher temp means higher water loss
RH Temp VP