Pre- and Post-Harvest Factors Regulating Secondary Metabolites in Fruit
A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Postharvest Biology, Quality, Safety, and Technology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2025 | Viewed by 911
Special Issue Editors
Interests: pomology; food quality; primary and secondary metabolites; antioxidant activity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: ecophysiology; irrigation management and water use efficiency; biochemical compound; cultivar and rootstock evaluation; qualitative characterization; post-harvest management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: pre-harvest physiology; pomology; food quality; antioxidant activity; fruit metabolism and ripening
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent years, fruits have received increased interest as good sources of natural antioxidants and bioactive compounds. These biochemical constituents, which play a pivotal role in human nutrition and health, are an important source of vitamins, minerals, and other disease-fighting phytochemicals. In particular, fruit biochemical compounds are studied in epidemiological studies for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, with beneficial effects on human health, lowering the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancers.
In this context, it is important to investigate the modifications occurring during maturity and how they affect tree and ripening processes post-harvest. In addition, a number of pre-harvest factors affect fruit quality, i.e. environmental conditions, genotype, rootstock influence, cultural practices and agronomic techniques, mineral nutrition, water supply, etc.
The items linked to the post-harvest management of fruit are topical factors that influence qualitative traits, i.e., cultivar, maturity stage, harvest period, and applied technologies (sorting and grading, packaging, storage conditions and transportation), during the post-harvest chain.
In light of the above statement, this Special Issue will extensively cover the topics of pre- and post-harvest factors, focusing on fruit physiology and biochemistry in order to maintain the overall quality of fresh produce.
Kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Pilar Legua Murcia
Prof. Dr. Alberto Continella
Dr. Giulia Modica
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. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2200 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
- crop growth and yield
- food quality
- pomology
- biochemical compound
- pre- and post-harvest
- maturation
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