In the light of the numerous advances made in recent years on the above points, this Special Issue will extensively cover the topics of pre- and post-harvest physiology and biochemistry of fruits and vegetables in order to maintain the overall quality of fresh produce. In addition, due to the great importance of reducing fruit and vegetable losses, we encourage post-harvest researchers to become more engaged with logistics and food supply-chain operations, and to conduct multidisciplinary research incorporating consumer behaviour studies into postharvest research.
Currently, there are recurrent food losses of up to 1.3 million tons each year causing environmental, social, and economic problems worldwide. Since fresh fruit and vegetables are highly perishable foods, an important amount of loss and waste of horticultural products occurs during postharvest storage due to inadequate and insufficient management systems and technology leading to accelerated senescence, dehydration, mechanical injury, and pathogen infections. Common conservation technologies for fresh fruit and vegetables, such as chemical preservatives and refrigeration may trigger physiological disorders that affect their quality, content of nutrients, and safety. Therefore, in order to contribute to dealing with the current world challenges for food provision, such as the development of efficient postharvest management systems, we encourage the submission of research addressing strategies to decrease the loss and waste of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other plant organs including flowers, roots, and stems with focus on the biochemical and molecular events related to their physiology.
This topical article collection invites original research and review articles focusing on fruit ripening, associated signalling-network, ripening control mechanism and quality improvement of climacteric and non-climacteric fruits. The collection aims to assess the present status and identify the knowledge gaps in understanding the regulatory mechanisms of fruit ripening, the physiology, biochemistry, and molecular functions and unravel the strategies of ripening modulation.
Dr. Kalyan Barman (Banaras Hindu University)
Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticulture at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. His research interests include postharvest physiology and biochemistry, fruit ripening, bioactive molecules, antioxidants and storage physiology of fruits and vegetables.
My research programÃs main focus is fruit biology, which includes several projects ranging from fruit genomics and biochemistry to applied postharvest research. My research interests include the control of fruit ripening, improvement of fruit quality, and fruit-pathogen interactions. We integrate systems biology approaches with biochemical and physiological analyses to study fruit development and quality traits, and to establish a novel framework for the early detection and efficient management of fruit diseases.
Dr. Carolina Torres is an Endowed Chair in Tree Fruit Postharvest Systems. Her research program focus is on Washington apples, pears and cherries. Areas of research include abiotic stress and climate effect on fruit quality and storage disorders, fruit physiology and biochemistry, handling technologies, and postharvest systems to optimize fruit quality throughout the supply chain.
Position 1 is the top priority and has been requested as a replacement position for the retirement of the individual holding the Will Lester Endowed Chair. We have one additional retirement projected by 2006 (age 65 criterion). That position provides expertise in postharvest physiology, bridging between the fundamental and the applied research activities and has responsibility for teaching several fruit physiology courses. It will be essential to replace it to sustain effectiveness of the postharvest program.
The present study has investigated the fruit characteristics (color and firmness) at the time of harvesting and during the postharvest ripening as well as the physiological processes related to ripening such as respiration and ethylene production. The results obtained allow initial characterization of the ripening process of the P. schiedeana fruit, provide a better understanding of its physiology, and are useful to improve its postharvest management.
Postharvest Ripening Physiology of Crops is a comprehensive interdisciplinary reference source for the various aspects of fruit ripening and postharvest behavior. It focuses on the postharvest physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology of ripening and provides an overview of fruits and vegetables, including chapters on the postharvest quality
More specifically: Fruit and vegetables are perishable crops and their quality decreases after harvest due to changes in their physiology and biochemistry. A good insight in the physiological and biochemical changes of plants during postharvest life is needed to improve storage technology in the future. This course will provide the essential knowledge of plant physiology and plant biochemistry as a foundation to develop appropriate postharvest handling and storage processes.
The Innovations in Postharvest Technology book provides updated comprehensive information on the innovations and emerging technologies in postharvest and processing of horticultural commodities, as well as postharvest physiology, biochemistry, ripening, and engineering aspects. The series comprises books on ripening physiology, biochemistry, treatments to enhance shelf life, chilling injury, fresh cut and minimal processing, postharvest pathology and physiological disorders. The series also includes books on postharvest biology and technology of tropical, subtropical, and temperate fruits of global importance as well as vegetables and spices. Books also cover several aspects of general interest such as supply chain management, postharvest technology status in various regions of world, analytical techniques, biotechnology, engineering, non-destructive quality evaluation, and health effects. The books are for food scientists, postharvest researchers and industries, and graduate and postgraduate level students.
Her research interests are focused on the improvement of the overall quality of fresh fruits before and after harvest. Throughout her Ph.D. she has been working on deciphering key mechanisms that underlie fruit metabolism. Understanding these has helped her identify central elements that determine different aspects of overall fruit quality, including flavor, nutritional value, and shelf-life capacity. For achieving her goal she uses a Systems Biology approach, encompassing an interdisciplinary concept, including areas such as fruit development and ripening, fruit postharvest biology/physiology, fruit quality and fruit nutritional value complemented with biochemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, and breeding.
We are applying a systems biology approach (that combines genomics, metabolomics, proteomics, biochemistry, pre- and post-harvest physiology) to identify ethylene-mediated changes during fruit maturation, ripening and senescence aiming at the identification of key molecular and biochemical determinants that could be manipulated for the development of cultivars with enhanced quality traits. In particular, we are characterizing the metabolite profiles of climacteric and non-climacteric plum fruits and the protein/enzymes associated with ripening processes in climacteric and non-climateric plum fruits. We are analyzing the expression of genes associated with the development of quality traits in climacteric (and non-climacteric fruits) and identifying metabolic/enzymatic pathways associated with pre- and post-harvest quality traits.
Our general is the characterization and identification of the biochemical and biophysical processes that regulate cell growth and cell expansion. We focus on the regulation of the transport of solutes (K+ and Na+ in particular), the establishment of ion and pH homeostasis in the plant cell and their impact on the regulation of cell volume and the traffic of membrane and their protein cargo between the different cell compartments, and the cell response to environmental changes. Our research builds on the work done by our group towards the characterization of the roles of the intracellular NHX-type of transporters. We have shown the paramount roles of the endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 in plant growth and development, and the vacuolar NHX1-NHX4 in floral development, cell expansion and ionic regulation. We apply a multidisciplinary approach to establish the functional role(s) of each intracellular NHX, combining physiology, biochemistry, genetics, genomics, vesicular membrane transport, the heterologous gene expression in plants, and use of multiple NHX-knockout lines developed in our laboratory.
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