Search

Apple fruit can be stored for long periods of time, especially with the use of controlled atmosphere storage, but like many fruits and vegetables are susceptible to water loss. Water loss can result in compromised appearance such as skin shriveling, as well as loss of firmness, and reduced saleable weight, which in turn affect the income of growers and other industry stakeholders. Preharvest factors that can influence water loss in apples during the postharvest period include climate, cultivar, fruit size, tree age, orchard practices, and harvest maturity. Postharvest factors such as the storage temperature, relative humidity, storage type, and duration can also affect water loss in apple fruit during storage. The mechanisms of cuticle biosynthesis in water permeance, the role of stomata and lenticels, microcracking, crosstalk with mechanical injuries, storage disorders, and decay incidence during the storage of apples are reviewed. Additionally, the review summarizes: preharvest and postharvest factors influencing water loss; recent management strategies including pre-cooling, cold storage, controlled atmospheres, packaging, and anti-senescence chemicals; the use of edible coatings, as well as other non-chemical approaches for modulating water loss and maintaining storage quality. The review also provides direction for the industry to manage this destructive problem in the postharvest supply chain of apple fruit.

Red blush is one of the key quality markers of blood orange fruit (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck). Therefore, the influence of pre- (1, 2, and 3 mM) and postharvest (0.5, 1, and 1.5 mM) methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA) (1, 2, and 3 mM) treatments on redness, colouring pigments, and health-promoting compounds in cold stored ‘Tarocco Ippolito’ blood oranges was investigated. Preharvest application of 3 mM MeJA significantly increased rind citrus colour index (CCI) by 43.3% and colorimetric coordinate a* (redness) by 3.1% and decreased h° (hue angle, 0 = red), L* (lightness), and b* (yellowness) by 13.7%, 12.6%, and 23.4%, respectively. This treatment also enhanced CCI (57.4%), reduced h° (16.5%) and L* (36.4%), and increased total anthocyanins (88%), monomeric anthocyanins (117%), and flavonoids (77%) in the juice. Postharvest dip of 1.5 mM MeJA (5 min) improved CCI of juice (53.6%) and a* (5.5%), reduced h° (15.9%), L* (19.8%), and b* (19.4%), and increased total anthocyanins (66.7%), monomeric anthocyanins (74%), and flavonoids (23.4%) in the juice. Preharvest application of 1 mM SA increased rind CCI (50.8%) and reduced L* (13.6%), b* (16.4%), and h° (29.5%). All preharvest SA treatments significantly increased total phenolics in the juice. Lycopene was increased (61.7%) by 5 min postharvest dip of 3 mM SA. In conclusion, 3 mM preharvest spray application of MeJA four weeks before harvest and postharvest dip of 1.5 mM MeJA (5 min) are effective in improving red colour of rind and juice and health-promoting compounds in blood orange juice.

Raspberries are highly perishable and have a short storage life. To extend its storage life, we evaluated the impact of preharvest melatonin (MEL) application (0, 50, 100, 200 mol L−1), three days before harvest, on the activities of oxidative and antioxidative enzymes and quality attributes in ‘Esperanza’ raspberries up to 10 d cold storage. The 200 mol L−1 MEL-treated raspberries exhibited a significant reduction in disease incidence while maintaining higher marketable fruit and activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, dehydroascorbate reductase, monodehydroascorbate reductase, ascorbate peroxidase and catalase as compared to control. Additionally, it reduced activities of polyphenol oxidase, peroxidase and lipoxygenase enzymes and increased flavonoids and ascorbic acid levels. However, preharvest spray of 100 mol L−1 MEL mitigated fruit weight loss and maintained higher anthocyanins, and glutathione than control. In conclusion, MEL application (100–200 mol L−1), three days before harvest, supressed oxidative stress by maintaining higher activities of antioxidant enzymes in raspberries during 10 d of cold storage.

Chilling injury (CI) causes significant losses in fruits and vegetables during cold storage. CI symptoms exhibited as browning, off-flavour and sunken spots, reduced juice content, uneven ripening and softening in fresh horticultural produce. Application of melatonin (MT) effectively mitigates CI in cold-stored fruits and vegetables. This comprehensive review focuses at discussing symptoms, the mechanism of CI, regulation of melatonin-mediated chilling tolerance, and meta-analysis of CI reduction in horticultural produce. Melatonin mitigates CI, maintains quality of cold-stored horticultural produce by upregulating early hydrogen peroxide signalling, activities of antioxidant enzymes after inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and membrane leakage.

Blackberries and raspberries, commonly known as Rubus berries, are commercially grown worldwide across different climates. Rubus berries contain wide array of phytochemicals, vitamins, dietary fibers, minerals, and unsaturated fatty acids. Nevertheless, these berries have short storage life which is the major constraint in their supply chains leading to higher postharvest losses. Inappropriate harvest handling, physical bruising, insect pests, and postharvest diseases lower the acceptability of fruit among consumers and other supply chain stakeholders. Additionally, the susceptibility to microbial decay, fruit softening, higher ethylene production, respiratory activity, and increased oxidation of anthocyanins, phenolics, and flavonoids considerably affects the marketability of Rubus berries at domestic and international markets. To date, several postharvest strategies such as cold storage, precooling, modified and controlled atmospheres, anti-ripening chemicals, edible coatings, biological agents, and nonchemical alternatives (heat treatment, ultrasound, irradiations, ozone) have been reported to prolong storage life, ensure food safety, and maintain the nutritional quality of Rubus berries. This review briefly encompasses multiple aspects including harvest maturity indices, regulation of fruit ripening, pre and postharvest factors affecting fruit quality, and an update on postharvest quality preservation by employing postharvest technologies to extend the storage life and maintaining the bioactive compounds in Rubus berries which are lacking in the literature. Accordingly, this review provides valuable information to the industry stakeholders and scientists offering relevant solutions, limitations in the application of certain technologies at commercial scale, highlighting research gaps, and paving the way forward for future investigations.

Oxalic acid (OA) is a unique organic acid that commonly occurs in plants with distinct functions in modulating metabolic processes. To date, the role of OA has primarily been studied in the deactivation of copper-containing preservatives, detoxification of aluminium toxicity and remediation of organic pollutants. During the last two decades, OA has been considered as an antioxidant compound with focus on its potential to enhance crop yield, improve fruit quality, boost nutritional profile, and delay postharvest senescence in fruit and vegetables. It has been established that pre- and postharvest OA application delays ripening and senescence by down-regulating physiological processes such as water loss, ethylene production and respiration. OA treatment controlled adverse storage effects including chilling injury, enzymatic browning, as well as flesh softening by lowering oxidative stress. OA application has also been found to reduce decay in fresh fruit and vegetables by inducing systemic resistance against pathogens, decontamination from surficial microbial load and pesticide residues. Additionally, OA treatments have shown to effectively improve enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants and maintain attributes for eating quality. Effectively, OA application has been deemed to be a potentially food-safe natural and suitable alternative to synthetic chemicals for up-regulating bioactive compounds in harvested fruit and vegetables and extending storability within the postharvest supply chain. This extensive review covers aspects of OA including its: history, chemistry, biosynthesis in plants, quantification in fruit and vegetables, crosstalk with ripening physiology, past attempts and recent advancements in storage life extension, safety as well as quality management of fruit and vegetables.

Ethylene is a key trigger that governs the rate of fruit ripening, storability, and postharvest quality of fresh fruit. Efficient inhibition of ethylene action is essential to slow down the postharvest ripening processes, extend storage life and maintain optimum fruit quality during storage. Ethylene antagonist compounds with the likelihood of application as liquid formulation would facilitate managing ethylene broadly as both preharvest and/or postharvest treatments. This study examined the effects of different aqueous formulations of 1 H-cyclopropa[b]naphthalene (NC) as an ethylene antagonist in the cold stored (1 °C) Japanese plums ‘Angeleno’ (suppressed-climacteric) and ‘Tegan Blue’, which exhibit climacteric peaks, respectively. NC was applied as a 2 M spray solution prepared using only distilled water (NCA), 5% ethanol (NCE), 0.02% Tween 20 (NCT), 5% -cyclodextrin (NCD) or a 1 M fumigant for 18 h at ambient conditions (20 ± 1 °C). Regardless of formulation, NC retarded ethylene production in both the suppressed-climacteric and climactic cultivars. The capacity of NC to suppress ethylene production was relatively higher in ‘Angeleno’ than in ‘Tegan Blue’. Levels of bioactive compounds such as total phenols, total anthocyanins and total antioxidant capacity in fruit treated with NC were at par with the control. NC fumigation was the most effective treatment in suppressing ethylene production and maintaining fruit quality followed by NCE, NCT, NCD and NCA in both plum cultivars. Amongst the NC spray solutions, the ones with ethanol or Tween 20 as adjuvants outperformed other solutions. Ethylene production positively correlated with weight loss, SSC, SSC: TA and concentrations of individual sugars, but was negatively correlated with firmness, titratable acidity (TA) and individual organic acids in both cultivars. The results also support the notion that ethylene has a role in the synthesis of phenolic compounds and anthocyanin depending on the sugar substrates pre

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.), also known as ‘vegetarian’s meat’, is an excellent source of carbohydrates, protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and several phytochemicals. It is a climacteric fruit that exhibits an increase in ethylene biosynthesis and respiration rate during fruit ripening. The market value of jackfruit is reduced due to the deterioration of fruit quality during storage and transportation. There is a lack of standardized harvest maturity index in jackfruit, where consequently, fruit harvested at immature or overmature stages result in poor quality ripe fruit with short storage life. Other factors responsible for its short postharvest life relate to its highly perishable nature, chilling sensitivity and susceptibility to fruit rot which result in significant qualitative and quantitative losses. Various postharvest management techniques have been adopted to extend the storage life, including cold storage, controlled atmosphere storage, modified atmosphere packaging, edible coatings, chemical treatment, and non-chemical alternatives. Diversified products have been prepared from jackfruit to mitigate such losses. This comprehensive review highlights the nutritional profile, fruit ripening physiology, pre and postharvest quality management, and value addition of jackfruit as well as the way forward to reduce postharvest losses in the supply chain.

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) fruit is a rich source of carotenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, sugars, and organic acids. Although it is classified as a non-climacteric fruit, susceptibility to mechanical and physical bruising causes its rapid deterioration by moisture loss and postharvest decay caused by pathogens. Anthracnose, canker, and purple spot are the most prevalent postharvest diseases of loquat fruit. Cold storage has been used for quality management of loquat fruit, but the susceptibility of some cultivars to chilling injury (CI) consequently leads to browning and other disorders. Various techniques, including cold storage, controlled atmosphere storage, hypobaric storage, modified atmosphere packaging, low-temperature conditioning, heat treatment, edible coatings, and postharvest chemical application, have been tested to extend shelf life, mitigate chilling injury, and quality preservation. This review comprehensively focuses on the recent advances in the postharvest physiology and technology of loquat fruit, such as harvest maturity, fruit ripening physiology, postharvest storage techniques, and physiological disorders and diseases.