Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ABSTRACT
Caring, protecting and conserving the environment for future generations
of plants, human beings and other creatures has become a priority of to-
day's world. The existing food laws have brought about several desirable
changes in logistics of postharvest handling and value chain of fresh hor-
ticultural produce. Synthetic pre and post storage treatment agents/mol-
ecules have been replaced with ecofriendly products. In last couple of
years, some environmental and consumer friendly post harvest treatment
materials like nitric oxide (NO), salicylic acid, methyl jasmonates (MeJA),
ethanol, polyamines, 1-Methylcyclopropene, ozone, edible waxes, essen-
tial oils, biocontrol agents and irradiation are gaining popularity across
the globe. These ecofriendly agents are equally effective over traditional
synthetic chemicals in respect of bringing down the physiological and bio-
chemical changes in the harvested produce. Application of nitric oxide,
salicylic acid, methyl jasmonates (MeJA), ethanol, polyamines, 1-Meth-
ylcyclopropene, ozone, edible waxes, essential oils, biocontrol agents and
irradiation have been proved effective in minimizing storage disorders
likechilling injury (CI), scald; fungal diseases like stem-end rot, blue mold
rot, green mold rot, anthracnose; regulation of ripening and senescence,
etc. Quality traits of fresh produce were also found retained for longer
period in fruits by application of these compounds.
16.1 INTRODUCTION
The world has witnessed a very fast change in the ways of transporta-
tion and utilization of fruits and vegetables in last one and half decades.
Moreover, developing and near to develop countries has made a signifi-
cant progress on production, handling and utilization of fresh horticul-
tural produce. With the increasing health and hygiene concerns among
consumers; producers, traders and researchers are looking for green post
harvest technologies, which can enhance the produce shelf-life and retain
the nutritive value up to consumers end. Warnings about the dangers of
the excessive use of chemicals for the human health and biodiversity have
been well reported over the years. The World Health Organization (WHO)
estimates the occurrence of some more than 27 million cases of excessive
chemical uses causing slow poisoning globally each year (Anon, 2012).
