Post-Harvest Management of Fruits and Vegetables

Fruit and vegetable production is an emerging field of?horticulture in India despite the fact that, about a third of the fruitand vegetable production is lost before it reaches the plate. Loss of?fruit and vegetables after harvest from 30 to 80%, depending on the?crop. Lack of post-harvest management skills and technologies such?as temperature control to maintain a cold chain, price increases and?packaging have caused a number of economic and food security?including high levels of poverty, hidden hunger and malnutrition. Globally, the use of post-harvest technology for example, the use of?ethylene, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and temperature control?have proven to reduce the loss of post-harvest fruits and vegetables.?Also, chemical and non-chemical methods are useful in controlling rot?and pathogenic bacteria, especially for food and vegetable products.Post-harvest technologies such as controlled ripening, dietary?coverage, temperature control and chemical treatments are powerful?tools to reduce post-harvest fruit and vegetable losses, increase food?security and nutrition and alleviate poverty.At the same time, the inefficiency of cleaning chemicals and pesticides should be avoided to ensure the fi nal safety of consumers.ContentsIntroduction Principal causes of postharvest losses and poor qualitya - Extend of post.harvest lossb - Important sites of post-harvest lossesc - EStimated loss of fruits and vegetablesd - Causes of postharvest losses? ? ?I. Metabolic? ? ?II. Mechanical? ? ?III. Developmental? ? ?IV. Parasitic diseases? ? ?V. Physiological deterioration? ? ?VI. Lack of market demand? ? ?VII. Consumption? ? ?VIII. Others (*)e - Impact of postharvest losses? ? ?Nutrition? ? ?Economyf - Technologies for minimizin the losses? ? ?1. Waxing? ? ?2. Evaporative cool storage? ? ?3. Pre-packing? ? ?4. Cold storage? ? ?5. Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP)? ? ? ? ?Humidity and condensation control? ? ?6. Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage? ? ?7. Cold chain? ? ?8. Irradiation? ? ?9. Edible coatings? ? ?10. Others (*)Conclusion SourcePost-Harvest Management of?Fruits and VegetablesPoonam, Raj Kumar; Jakhar, Priyanka Kumawat; Amit Prajapat & Dr. Subhita KumawatWorldwide Trends In Sustainable Agriculture 148-160https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Subhita-Kumawat-2/publication/360911848_Post-Harvest_Management_of_Fruits_and_Vegetables/links/6291dd956886635d5ca91b47/Post-Harvest-Management-of-Fruits-and-Vegetables.pdf (*) Others includeLack of a clear idea of packing for household operation. ? Lack of information on farmers, contractors and even policymakers. ? Lack of infrastructure. ? Late realization of its importance. ? Inadequate technical support. ? Wide gap in technologies available and in vogue. ? Inadequate post-harvest quality control. ? Unorganized marketing. ? Absence of pre-cooling and cold storage. ? Inadequate market facilities, market intelligence and marketinformation service (MIS) ? Poor storage facilities.?