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Horticulturae
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New Advances in Fruit Quality: Pre-harvest Techniques and Postharvest Management
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New Advances in Fruit Quality: Pre-harvest Techniques and Postharvest Management

A topical collection in Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This collection belongs to the section "Postharvest Biology, Quality, Safety, and Technology".

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Editors

Dr. Alessio Allegra

E-Mail Website
Collection Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, SAAF, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze build 4-H, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: fruit science; fruit quality; post harvest technology; postharvest physiology; vegetable production; fresh-cut processing
Dr. Giuseppe Sortino

E-Mail Website
Collection Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Science, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: postharvest physiology of fruit and vegetables; postharvest technologies to preserve overall quality; functional and nutritional quality; native resources valorization; pomology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Topical Collection is dedicated to original research and review articles that cover the latest findings in new pre-harvest techniques and post-harvest management of horticultural products. In recent years the agriculture industry has been quickly growing, and many efforts have been introduced to ensure high-quality produce. Diseases and defects found in plants and crops greatly affect horticulture products. This being the case, many techniques and technologies have been developed to help solve or reduce defects in and improve the quality of horticultural products. The aim of this Topical Collection is to learn about advances in agricultural practices in order to enhance the quality and safety of agro-food products for the health of consumers.

In particular, this Topical Collection will focus on innovative production practices with the use of technology to increase fruit quality and reduce environmental pollution as well as waste of resources during pre- and post-harvest, new technologies to improve post-harvest quality, and progress on techniques to improve food safety for consumers’ health.

We are highly interested in the latest advances in and prospects of sensory evaluations of fruit quality, such as sensory attributes, sensory quality control, sensory analysis of PDO products, qualitative research methods, consumer test methods and questionnaires, shelf-life testing, the impacts on fruit quality and food safety of pre- and post-harvest treatments and technologies, and strategic sensory research. Both original research and review articles are welcome.

Dr. Alessio Allegra
Dr. Giuseppe Sortino
Collection 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 collection 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

  • pre-harvest
  • post-harvest
  • quality
  • shelf life
  • food safety
  • sensory evaluation
  • marketing
  • consumer behavior (including willingness to pay and purchase intentions)
  • protected designation of origin (PDO)
  • genomics

Published Papers (2 papers)

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2023

Jump to: 2022

11 pages, 3982 KiB  
Article
Preharvest UV-B Treatment Improves Strawberry Quality and Extends Shelf Life
by Xudong Zhu, Frances Trouth and Tianbao Yang
Horticulturae 2023, 9(2), 211; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9020211 - 05 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1932
Abstract
Postharvest ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation has been used to control pathogen incidence on fresh produce, but little attention has been paid to preharvest UV-B effect on strawberry fruit quality and storage. In this study, strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch. cv Albion) plants [...] Read more.
Postharvest ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation has been used to control pathogen incidence on fresh produce, but little attention has been paid to preharvest UV-B effect on strawberry fruit quality and storage. In this study, strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch. cv Albion) plants grown in greenhouse were irradiated with UV-B lamps with an intensity of 0.7362 J/s m2 for 1 and 2 h every day from 5–7 pm after flowering. Fruits were harvested at red stage for quality evaluation. The results indicated that the preharvest UV-B-treated fruits had lighter color (increased L*) than the control. Total soluble solids (TSS), total phenolics content (TPS) and total anthocyanin content (TAC) of UV-B-treated fruits were higher than for the control fruits. There were no significant differences in any of the quality traits between UV-B one-hour and two-hour treatments. We further evaluated the fruit quality when stored at 5 °C on day 7 and day 14. Compared to untreated control, UV-B-treated fruits retarded decrease in L*, TSS, TPS, TAC and firmness, and reduced fruit decay. Examination of expression of genes related to UV-B signaling indicated that HY5 was the major component of UV-B signaling during the green and white stages. However, anthocyanin genes were highly responsive to UV-B treatment during the red stage. Our results suggest that utilization of a low dose of UV-B radiation during the growth stage can improve strawberry fruit quality, and extend shelf life. This research facilitates the utilization of preharvest UV-B treatment for improving fruit quality in controlled environment agriculture. Full article
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2022

Jump to: 2023

16 pages, 2900 KiB  
Article
Calcium Ascorbate Coating Improves Postharvest Quality and Storability of Fresh-Cut Slices of Coscia and Abate Fétel Pears (Pyrus communis L.)
by Alessio Allegra, Paolo Inglese, Eugenia Guccione, Vittorio Farina and Giuseppe Sortino
Horticulturae 2022, 8(3), 227; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8030227 - 06 Mar 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2861
Abstract
Flesh firmness is closely related to fruit ripeness and is typically a reliable indicator of shelf-life potential so it could be considered a crucial quality index for the determination of pear quality. Flesh softening after cutting could considerably affect consumer acceptance of fresh-cut [...] Read more.
Flesh firmness is closely related to fruit ripeness and is typically a reliable indicator of shelf-life potential so it could be considered a crucial quality index for the determination of pear quality. Flesh softening after cutting could considerably affect consumer acceptance of fresh-cut pears (Pyrus communis L.). Indeed, mechanical stress (cutting, peeling, etc.) could lead to ethylene production that results in the hydrolysis of pectic substances in the cell walls. The effectiveness of an edible coating treatment on the physical-chemical, nutraceutical, and sensorial analysis was evaluated on two pear cultivars: the summer-ripening ‘Coscia’ and the late-ripening ‘Abate Fétel’, both harvested at their commercial ripening stage. Pear fruit slices were treated with calcium ascorbate, xanthan gum or HPMC coating and stored at 4 °C for 12 days. Weight loss, flesh firmness, soluble solid content, titratable acidity, ΔE color, browning surface, total polyphenol content, and antioxidant capacity were measured. Sensory analysis was carried out. Results showed that calcium ascorbate treatment applied to fruit slices significantly extended their shelf-life because it considerably inhibited browning and color changes in fresh-cut slices of both pear cultivars over seven days of storage. Furthermore, pear slices treated with calcium ascorbate revealed a higher antioxidant capacity and a lower content of total phenols during cold storage. Full article
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