Considerable economic losses to harvested fruits are caused by postharvest fungal decay during transportation and storage, which can be significantly controlled by synthetic fungicides. However, considering public concern over pesticide residues in food and the environment, there is a need for safer alternatives for the control of postharvest decay to substitute synthetic fungicides. As the sec...

The modular design of plants enables individual plant organs to manifest autonomous functions and continue aspects of metabolism, such as respiration, even after separation from the parent plant. Therefore, we hypothesized that harvested vegetables and fruits may retain capacity to perceive and respond to external stimuli. For example, the fitness advantage of plant circadian clock function is ...

Immature, vegetable-like fruits are produced by crops of great economic importance, including cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants and bell peppers, among others. Because of their high respiration rates, associated with high rates of dehydration and metabolism, and their susceptibility to chilling injury (CI), vegetable fruits are highly perishable commodities, requiring particular storage conditions...

Peaches (Prunus persica cv. Yanhong) were fumigated with carbon monoxide (CO) at 0, 0.5, 5, 10, and 20 μmol/L for 2 hours. The result showed that low concentration CO (0.5-10 μmol/L) might delay the decrease of firmness and titrable acid content, restrain the increase of decay incidence, and postpone the variation of soluble solids content, but treating peaches with high concentration CO (20 μm...

Nitric oxide (NO) fumigation under ultralow oxygen (ULO) conditions was studied for its efficacy in controlling codling moth and effects on postharvest quality of apples. NO fumigation was effective against eggs and larvae of different sizes on artificial diet in 48 h treatments. Small larvae were more susceptible to nitric oxide than other stages at 0.5% NO concentration. There were no signifi...

For three Asiatic hybrid lily cultivars (‘Bright Beauty’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Orlito’) the potential postharvest performance of floral buds in terms of growth, anthesis and longevity was studied in relation to tepal carbohydrate status. To determine the importance of carbohydrate redistribution within lily inflorescences, the postharvest performance of several attached and detached buds was compared at...

Wide international interest in heat treatments for maintenance of postharvest quality, disease control, and as a quarantine technology, was reflected in the range of papers presented at this BARD Workshop on Postharvest Heat Treatments. Heat treatments are currently used commercially in several countries, for example as hot water dips, hot water brushing techniques, and hot air treatments. Rese...

Laboratory studies were conducted to develop ultralow oxygen (ULO) treatment for controlling western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), on broccoli at a low temperature of 1 degree C. Complete control was achieved in 5 d at 0.003% oxygen. Oxygen level affected efficacy of ULO treatment. At a higher oxygen level of 0.03%, 6-d treatment killed -85% of ...

native population of raspberry fruits (rubus spp) were treated with methyl jasmonate (mj) fumigation and were assayed for the antioxidant capacity, total anthocyanins and postharvest quality after 7 days storage at 4?c. the result of experiment revealed that berries treated with methyl jasmonate (mj) showed higher antioxidant capacity and total anthocyanins compared to the controled ones (non...