NE103: Postharvest Physiology of Fruits
Statement of Issues and Justification
The increased availability of quality fresh fruits from global markets often competes directly with domestic fruit kept in long term storage. Adoption of new and desirable cultivars by growers will help maintain the U.S. market share of temperate fruits, but there are complications with the adoption of new cultivars. Storage protocols of temperate fruits are cultivar-unique and necessary in order to reduce losses from blemishes. This means that protocols must be developed for each replacement cultivar on a regional level. This is partly due to site-specific variations in agro-climate.Another increasingly important consumer issue is the concern for the use of pesticides and chemical preservatives in fruit storage and processing systems. Alternatives to such chemical controls are needed to better position our domestic producers for maintaining their global market share. Controlled atmosphere (CA) storage technologies reduce the need for pesticides and chemical preservatives for the storage of some fruits. Research is needed to elucidate the biochemical, physiological and genetic bases of postharvest storage disorders, ripening and softening, and the mitigating effects of CA on the quality attributes such as color, aroma, texture and nutritional value.
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