Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
100% in the horticultural crops like mango, the fruit size and quality were
adversely affected in many crops. However, temperate crops like apple,
plum and cherry gave higher yield due to extended chilling. The damage
was more in low laying area where cold air settled and remains for a lon-
ger time in ground (Sharma et al., 2004). Awasthi et al. (1986) have indi-
cated that irregular bearing behavior of Starking Delicious apple is largely
influenced by climatic conditions. The rains and hails during flowering
adversely affect the fruit-set where as moderate temperature of 20°C with
relatively low rains during flowering results in good fruit-set.
Field vegetable production systems contribute to climate change
through emission of the greenhouse gases CO
2
and N
2
O. Since field veg-
etables like all other plants fix atmospheric CO
2
, the net emission of CO
2
from vegetable production systems will be insignificant, especially when
high-yielding varieties are used, crop residues are not removed from the
field, inorganic fertilizers are replaced by organic manures and reduced
tillage is applied. N
2
O emission can be reduced by increasing the effi-
ciency of N use by the vegetables (Neeteshan et al.
,
2010).
5.3.4.2
QUALITY ASPECTS
Production and quality of fresh fruit and vegetable crops can be directly
and indirectly affected by high temperatures and exposure to elevated lev-
els of carbon dioxide and ozone. Chan et al. (1981) and Picton and Gri-
erson (1988) observed that high temperature stresses inhibited ethylene
production and cell wall softening in papaya and tomato fruits. On the
other hand, cucumber fruits showed increased tolerance to high tempera-
ture stress (32.5°C) with no change in in vitro ACC oxidase activity (Chan
and Linse, 1989). Tip burn in lettuce is a disorder normally associated
with high temperatures in the field, which can cause soft rot development
during postharvest. Black heart in potato occurs during excessively hot
weather in saturated soil. The symptoms usually occur in the center of
the tuber as dark-gray to black discoloration. The translucent fruit flesh
in pineapple appears due to high temperature. Exposure of tomato fruits
to temperatures above 30°C suppresses many of the parameters of normal
fruit ripening including color development, softening, respiration rate and
ethylene production (Buescher, 1979; Hicks et al., 1983).
