Citrosol delivers a seminar in Egypt on its successful ?precision postharvest? model

The AEC (Agriculture Export Council) in Egypt is a public body that brings together companies and professionals from the agricultural sector annually to participate in a technical seminar in which a guest company provides the keynote speakers for the entire seminar. This year the Spanish company CITROSOL fulfilled that role. The heads of the International department within the valencian firm designed the Seminar, Citrus Postharvest, held at the end of September in Cairo (Egypt), to embrace a broad theme that encompassed degreening, decay control, application of coatings and waxes, cleaning and disinfection and on through to green chemical treatments and plant based coatings. “Degreening generated a lot of interest, since good management in this field is the key to avoiding problems”, explained Raúl Perelló, “sometimes problems occur as a result of poor control, such as an excess of ethylene. In Egypt the market is beginning to degreen produce and our presentation has offered a new perspective”. The event serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas and knowledge and the opportunity to address the challenges posed in post-harvest citrus management from different angles. Among those attending from the professional public, quality managers of the citrus plants stood out in number – as well as representatives of public research organizations – with issues related to the cleaning and disinfection of warehouses coming to the fore as a result of the COVID pandemic. “The markets are increasingly demanding in terms of residues on the produce and the number of fungicides, which is why day on day it is becoming more and more important to establish and adhere to a good cleaning and disinfection plan with which to maintain the high efficacy of decay control. Citrosol is able to contribute a wealth of ‘know how’ in this regard”, adds Perelló. New plant based coatings for organic farmingAlternative treatments and plant based coatings have been another focal point during this international seminar. To these ends, Citrosol presented two fantastic new plant based coatings certified for use in organic farming: Plantseal and Plantseal shine free. Both plant based coatings for organic citrus significantly improve shelf life by mitigating weight loss and protecting against spotting caused by chilling injury. Plantseal controls citrus weight loss on a scale superior to other coatings. It affords the fruit an excellent natural shine and slows down the appearance of the senescence symptoms. In addition, it does not have an unpleasant flavor or result in the blackening of the pulp. Plantseal shine free, is a fabulous innovation from the La Safor region company to the point that the fruit does not appear to be waxed, hence its name, shine free. This coating controls weight loss in citrus fruit and delays the aging symptoms. Plantseal shine free is ideal for degreened fruit, as it allows the fruit to continue to change color.