Preharvest and Postharvest Biology and Preservation Technologies for Horticultural Produce
A special issue of Crops (ISSN 2673-7655).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 March 2026 | Viewed by 101
Special Issue Editors
Interests: horticultural crops; vegetables quality; vegetables biofortification; biostimulants; nutraceuticals
Interests: open field vegetables; nutraceuticals; greenhouse management; abiotic stresses; soilless cultivation systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Horticultural produce represents a key source of essential macronutrients, micronutrients and bioactive compounds for human nutrition and health. Ensuring their quality and shelf-life remains a key challenge within the global food supply chain. Preharvest conditions, including environmental variables and target agronomic practices (e.g., the use of suitable cultivars, reasonable nutrient management, irrigation strategies, optimal harvest timing, etc.) have an important influence on horticultural produce quality, resistance to postharvest diseases, and consequently overall shelf-life. Concurrently, the latest advances in understanding ethylene physiology, microbial spoilage mechanisms, and cellular responses to abiotic stress have enabled more sustainable and precision interventions (e.g., controlled-atmosphere storage, edible coatings, biocontrol agents) that noticeably extend horticultural produce shelf life while maintaining key quality traits built-up during the preharvest period. Nonetheless, non-optimal preharvest and postharvest practices still lead to substantial global losses of horticultural produce, while many remaining commodities experience significant declines in both quality and nutritional values before they reach the consumer.
The aim of this Special Issue is to unite multidisciplinary research that deepens our understanding of preharvest and postharvest factors and technologies that influence postharvest biology and the shelf-life of horticultural produce.
Dr. Claudio Cannata
Dr. Carlo Nicoletto
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crops is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- agronomic practices
- postharvest storage
- fresh produce handling
- quality preservation
- bioactive compounds
- post-harvest loss reduction
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