Special Issue "Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Crops"

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: 10 February 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Maria Dulce Carlos Antunes
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Interests: development of postharvest technologies to improve storage life of agricultural commodities, which keep the quality and food safety and minimize the environmental impact; intrusive and non-destructive methods for fresh food quality evaluation, storage capacity prevision and physiological disorders, and strategies to improve the fresh food supply chain; the physiology and biotechnology of the metabolic processes that occur during ripening and senescence of agricultural commodities; physiology of fruit ripening and senescence; postharvest pathology and physiological disorders; minimally processed foods; transportation of horticultural products
Dr. Custódia Maria Luís Gago
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Interests: use of nanocoatings to prevent the onset of physiological disorders and microbial development during long cold storage of fruit; the physiological and biochemical processes that occur during ripening and senescence of agricultural products, mainly mechanisms associated with chilling injury
Dr. Adriana Guerreiro
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
CEOT, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Edf. 8, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Interests: Postharvest technologies of horticultural crops; non-destructive prediction of quality parameters; harvest date prediction; microbial analysis in fruits; edible coatings to improve storage and minimally processed foods

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Postharvest food losses are a major issue due to the high perishability of the products. Reducing such losses by improving postharvest handling and the use of new appropriate technologies is of paramount importance for the sustainability of the food chain. Knowledge around the ripening and senescence processes is important to improve the storage and shelf life of horticultural produce.

We are interested in manuscripts dealing with the most recent achievements in the physiology and biochemistry of the ripening and senescence processes in horticultural produce and new, environmentally friendly postharvest treatments and packaging and storage technologies, with the aim of reducing postharvest losses and improving storage ability.

Potential topics include but are not limited to intrusive and non-destructive methods for fresh food quality evaluation; strategies to improve the fresh food supply chain; the physiology and biotechnology of the metabolic processes that occur during ripening and senescence of agricultural commodities; postharvest pathology and physiological disorders; minimally processed foods; packaging and transportation of horticultural products; and pre- and postharvest treatments to improve storage life.

Original research manuscripts, methods, reviews, mini reviews, and opinions are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Maria Dulce Carlos Antunes
Dr. Custódia Maria Luís Gago
Dr. Adriana Guerreiro
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 papers will be 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 1400 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

  • postharvest
  • fruit
  • vegetables
  • storage
  • shelf-life
  • quality

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Investigating the Molecular Mechanisms of Pepper Fruit Tolerance to Storage via Transcriptomics and Metabolomics
Horticulturae 2021, 7(8), 242; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7080242 - 12 Aug 2021
Viewed by 272
Abstract
Pepper is one of the most important vegetable crops in China and has high economic value. However, the pepper fruit is easily softened and spoiled after harvest, which seriously affects its flavor, transportation, and economic value. In this study, we used pepper lines [...] Read more.
Pepper is one of the most important vegetable crops in China and has high economic value. However, the pepper fruit is easily softened and spoiled after harvest, which seriously affects its flavor, transportation, and economic value. In this study, we used pepper lines with different levels of storage resistance, A144 and A361, and performed physiological examination, transcriptomics, and metabolomics on them at 0 and 3 days after harvest in order to analyze their gene expression patterns and molecular regulatory mechanisms for storage tolerance. A total of 23,477 genes and 985 metabolites were identified. After comparing and analyzing each sample, we identified 7829 differentially expressed genes and 296 differential metabolites. We found that the genes such as ethylene-responsive transcriptional factor (ERFs), polygalacturonase (PG), cellulose synthase (CESA), abscisic acid insensitive (ABI), protein kinase 2 (SnRK2), and protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C) and metabolites such as phenylalanine and glycyl-tyrosine were differentially expressed between different storage times in the two materials. Through GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, we found that the differential genes were mainly enriched in carbohydrate metabolism, small molecule metabolism, and plant hormone signal transduction, and the differential metabolites were mainly enriched in flavonoid biosynthesis, glutathione metabolism, and cysteine and methionine metabolism pathways. This study provides a scientific basis for investigating the molecular mechanisms of storage tolerance and developing new pepper varieties with improved storage resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Crops)
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Article
Application of Room Cooling and Thermal Insulation Materials to Maintain Quality of Okra during Storage and Transportation
Horticulturae 2021, 7(7), 188; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7070188 - 08 Jul 2021
Viewed by 660
Abstract
A combination of room cooling and the use of thermal insulation materials to maintain okra quality under simulated storage and transportation was evaluated. Okra pods were packed in plastic baskets and either cooled at 18 °C or not cooled in a room for [...] Read more.
A combination of room cooling and the use of thermal insulation materials to maintain okra quality under simulated storage and transportation was evaluated. Okra pods were packed in plastic baskets and either cooled at 18 °C or not cooled in a room for 2 h. After either room cooling or no cooling, the okra pods were covered with three different materials: (1) perforated linear low-density polyethylene (P-LLDPE), (2) two layers of heat-reflective sheet with thin nonwoven (HRS+TNNW), and (3) metalized foam sheet (MFS). Typical handling (TP) without cooling and covering with P-LLDPE was used as the control. The six treatments were conducted during simulated storage (18 °C for 48 h) and transportation (30 °C for 15 h). Results showed that MFS gave the best insulation properties (Qx and R-values), followed by HRS and TNNW. After room cooling, both HRS+TNNW and MFS materials delayed the time for pulp temperature to reach 18 °C (10 h), compared to P-LLDPE (2 h). TP presented the highest mass loss (17.8%) throughout simulated conditions, followed by cooling plus P-LLDPE (15.2%) and either of the thermal insulation materials with or without room cooling (3.6% to 5.2%), respectively. TP, cooling plus P-LLDPE, and no cooling plus MFS (44% to 56%) showed the highest percentage of decay, while cooling combined with both HRS+TNNW and MFS gave the lowest decay incidence (11–21%). Findings demonstrated that room cooling combined with HRS+TNNW had the highest efficiency for preserving cool temperature and reducing decay, compared to TP and room cooling plus MFS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Crops)
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Article
Effect of Postharvest Transport and Storage on Color and Firmness Quality of Tomato
Horticulturae 2021, 7(7), 163; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7070163 - 28 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 408
Abstract
Transport duration affects the vibration level generated which has adverse effects on fresh produce during transportation. Furthermore, temperature affects the quality of fresh commodities during storage. This study evaluated physical changes in tomatoes during transportation and storage. Tomatoes were transported at three distances [...] Read more.
Transport duration affects the vibration level generated which has adverse effects on fresh produce during transportation. Furthermore, temperature affects the quality of fresh commodities during storage. This study evaluated physical changes in tomatoes during transportation and storage. Tomatoes were transported at three distances (100, 154, and 205 km) from a local farm and delivered to the Postharvest Laboratory where vibration acceleration was recorded per distance. Tomato was stored at two different temperatures (10 °C and 22 °C) for 12 days. The physical qualities like weight loss and firmness of all tomato samples were evaluated. RGB image acquisition system was used to assess the color change of tomato. The results of vibration showed that over 40% of accelerations occurred in the range of 0.82–1.31 cm/s2 of all transport distances. Physical quality analyses like weight loss and firmness were highly affected by transportation distance, storage temperature, and storage period. The reduction in weight loss and firmness was the highest in tomatoes transported from the farthest distance and stored at 22 °C. Lightness, yellowness, and hue values showed a high reduction as transport distance increased particularly in tomatoes stored at 22 °C. Redness, total color difference, and color indices increased significantly on tomatoes transported from 205 km and stored at 10 °C and 22 °C. The study indicated that the increase in transportation distance and storage temperature cause higher changes in the physical qualities of tomatoes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Crops)
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