Postharvest Management of Horticultural Produce

Fruits and vegetables are essential sources for the micronutrients needed for healthier diets. The potential of vegetables is to generate positive economic and nutritional impacts. Fruit quality may be a combination of many options that rely upon the stage of maturity reached at harvest, post harvest fruit management and un-wellness status, and storage length, every influencing general shopper appreciation. Currently, high post-harvest loses have been reported due to several factors such as inefficient management, lack of training for farmers, and problems with appropriate conditions for storage of fruits and vegetables. Therefore, it is of extreme significant to efficiently handle, store, and utilize produce to be able to feed the world, reduce the use of natural resources, and help to ensure sustainability. The present book is focused on to provide valuable and scientific information concerned with postharvest handling of different produce. Currently, consumers demand fresh products free of chemical residues; therefore, it is necessary to develop technologies eco-friendly, effective to protect against pathogens infection, and that these technologies can maintain the fruit quality. Control of post harvest diseases of recent fruits have relied for several years on the continual use of typical chemical fungicides. However, nonpolluting alternatives are progressively required owing to human health and environmental problems associated with the generation of chemical residues. So, this book focuses on alternative systems such as edible coatings, essential oils, salts, natural compounds (plant extracts), and others are suitable approaches for post-harvest disease management. It also explores on effective biodegradation of mycotoxin patulin by porcine pancreatic lipase and use of nondestructive devices to support pre- and postharvest fruit management. The aim of this book is to make a compilation of several studies conducted on horticultural produce for controlling important pathogens in several crops, addressing the demand for the development and application of effective technologies for preservation of horticulture produce.