Preface In the modern wave of economic development, horticulture has become a major part and plays very important role in development of agriculture enterprise in world economic development. Among horticultural crops, fruits and vegetables are major crops and considered presently as important food commodities and economical crops. Fruits and vegetables have also important place in our daily diet as they are richest and cheapest source of all essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals required by our body for proper functioning of body organs and maintaining good health. Besides these nutrients they also supply water and fibres to our body which play vital roles in our body. FAO WHO (2003) has recommended 400 g/capita/day (100 g fruits and 300 g vegetables) of fruit and vegetables to be consumed for good health and prevent chronic diseases. Fruits and vegetables become glut in harvesting season due to high productivity and all cannot be consumed at that time. They cannot be stored because there is scarcity of storage facilities which results high wastage of their highly perishables nature. On the other hand there is scarcity of fruits and vegetables in off season. If they are available, the market prize is very high and people can afford it and mostly common people are deprived of consuming fruits and vegetables. Therefore, it is very essential to create facilities and preventive measures to reduce wastage and make more availability of fruits and vegetables to consumers. Other care must be taken after harvesting to prevent initial losses, because losses start immediately after harvesting. To reduce the losses and to make availability of fresh fruits and vegetable during off season, the best mean is the processing and preservation by using simple techniques. There are many processing methods that can be used by small-scale handlers, including drying, fermenting, canning, freezing, preserving and juicing. Fruit and vegetable processing and preservation has its own place and introduced as a core course of Horticulture Science since long time probably before 1960 s in B. Sc. (Ag.) and M. Sc. (Ag.) Horticulture. But in modern society people have realized the nutritional importance of fruits and vegetables and their processed products and at present it has also been included in Food Science and Technology as a course. Not only inclusions of as a course but several training centers have been established in the country. Keeping these views, the informations have been compiled to provide adequate knowledge about processing and preservation of fruits and vegetables to students, teachers, traders and trainees. With these objectives the manuscript has been prepared in brief and simple language so that every user can understand easily. It will also be very useful to Housewives who create more taste and flavor to our meal.

Agriculture has been the base of human livelihood since ancient time when the man started planting of seeds of some edible plants now called Agricultural crops. Domestication of food plants and animals was started with the development of human civilization. Thus agriculture can be explained as science and technology of growing food crops and rearing of animals. Still in several countries of the world, most of population is based on agriculture for their livelihood particularly in rural areas of that country. According to Williams and Haq (2002) there are over 7000 species of plants that can be used for food. The edible plants species grown for food are called agricultural crops. The crops grown in garden are known as garden cops or Horticulture crops. Horticulture is a branch of agriculture, which deals with intensive cultivation of garden crops such as fruits, vegetables, f lowers, ornamental plants, plantation crops, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants, and mushroom. It also deals with post-harvest technology of horticultural crops. Processing and Preservation of fruits and vegetables is a part of Post-harvest Technology of horticultural crops which deals with methods of processing and preservation of these crops to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables after harvesting. All horticultural crops have their own importance in our society. Fruits, vegetables and spices are major ingredients of our meal. Spices add taste and flavor to our food and also have high medicinal values. Flowers and ornamental plants are used for decoration of environment and landscape. Aromatic and plantation crops have become industrial crops. Mushroom growing is a great enterprise. Among these crops fruits and vegetables are major crops and have been considered presently as highly economical and important food crops. There are 1200 crop species are used for vegetable purpose in the world (Hazra and Som, 2006). Fruits and vegetables are richest and cheapest source of all essential nutrients (carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals) required by our body for proper functioning of body organs and maintaining good health. Besides these nutrients they also supply water and fibers to our body which play vital roles in our body. Fruits and vegetables have important place in our daily diet and based on survey made by experts FAO WHO (2003) has recommended 400 g/capita/day of fruit and vegetables (fruits -100 g/capita/day and vegetables -300 g/capita/day) to be consumed for good health and prevent chronic diseases. Therefore, the demand of these food commodities has increased in the modern society due to increased awareness of the nutritional importance of fruits and vegetables. So that people must be aware that what part of fruit and vegetable is to be consumed?

World Scenario The world climatic conditions are divided into Tropical; Sub-Tropical and Temperate climates. Fruits and Vegetables suited to these climatic conditions are grown successfully. Considering the nutritional and economic importance of fruits and vegetables, there is tremendous increase in area and production of fruits and vegetables throughout the world. The present global scenario of fruit and vegetable crops (areas harvested, production and productivity (yield) has been given in Table 1. It shows that the fruits 865.88 million tones has been harvested from 65.24 million Ha land with productivity 13.27 t/ha (Table 1) where as vegetables produced 1075.20 million tonnes from area 57.00 million ha with yield 18.86 tonnes/ha (Table 1) during 2016.

The food we eat contains nourishing substances called nutrients which are required by human body for proper functioning and maintenance of body health. They are classified into five groups such as: Carbohydrates, Protein, Fats, Minerals Vitamins

Fruits and Vegetables are highly perishable in nature due to which huge spoilage (damage) takes place during the period between harvesting and consumption. Fruits and Vegetables after harvesting are often poorly handled and in many cases neither cleaned nor washed. Improper handling may cause physical damage due to tissue breakdown which results mechanical damages and physiological changes in harvested fruits and vegetables. Mechanical losses include bruising, cracking, cuts, microbial spoilage by fungi and bacteria and physiological losses include changes in respiration, transpiration, pigments, organic acids and flavour.

Processed fruit and vegetable are considered as staple food products throughout the world, and are becoming more popular with the increase of the global urban population. As a result, demand for processed fruit and vegetable products tends to increase with population growth in the world. There is strong demand for processed fruits and vegetables in the developing world over the past few years. In poor countries, people consume less fruits and vegetables due to the relatively high prices. All forms of preserved fruits and vegetables are available only to the urban elite people. But rural mosses producing more than 90 % of these fruits and vegetables are usually deprived of their uses. Demand of Processed Fruits and Vegetables Demand of processed fruits and vegetables is increasing in the developing as well as under developing countries of world. The following reasons are responsible for day by day increasing demand of processed fruits and vegetables.

After harvesting the quality of fruits and vegetables begins to diminish and products is edible for only a limited time then products begin to spoil or rot. Losses occur during harvesting and handling of fruits and vegetables can be minimized by proper techniques but processed food spoilage is bit difficult to control and stop after infection and contamination of microorganism. Spoilage Spoilage is deteriorative process which results reduction in quality of food (fruits and vegetables) which become inedible. The changes in food that cause it to lose its desired quality and eventually become inedible is called food spoilage or rotting. After harvesting, the quality of fruits and vegetables begins to diminish and product is edible for only a limited time. The deterioration and spoilage of fruits and vegetables may occur at different ways. The losses in harvested products begin immediately after detachment of products from their parental plants. After some time, theses products begin to spoil or rot. Spoilage can be defined as the deteriorative process which renders the food inedible or results in reduction in quality. Spoilage of fresh fruits and vegetables usually occurs during storage, transportation and during processing. They also get contaminated with spoilage organisms either from each other or from the containers. Mechanical injuries during harvesting and transportation further aggravates the deterioration process.

The fruits and vegetables are highly perishable in nature. The losses in harvested fruits and vegetables start immediately after harvesting and the resulting spoilage caused by biochemical changes (enzymatic) and activity of microorganisms such as bacteria, moulds and yeast. The losses caused by the microorganism in fruits and vegetables products can be prevented by controlling or destroying these organisms in order to preserve fruits and vegetables by processing and preservation means. The processing and preservation is one of the most important activities among various types of activities of Horticultural Science. Processing: The processing can be defined as an activity, which is performed to maintain or improve the quality or to change the form or characteristics of the product. Processing operations are undertaken to add value to horticultural produce after their production. The main purpose of processing is to minimize the qualitative and quantitative deterioration of produce after harvest. Preservation: Preservation can be defined as the science which deals with the methods of prevention of decay or spoilage of produce and allow it to be stored in a fit condition for future use. Fruits and vegetables can be preserved for short and long term. For short term preservation can be achieved by proper handling of produce and low temperature storage. Long term preservation can be achieved by canning, drying and dehydration, fermentation and by using chemical preservatives.

The basic processing and preservation techniques such as canning, freezing, dehydration, salting, pickling and freeze drying are designed to change perishable foods into more usable form and prevent undesirable changes caused by microorganisms, or by chemical, physical and biochemical reactions in the food itself. Hence an ideal processing technology would involve prevention of growth of microorganisms and at the same time retention of f lavor, texture, nutritive value and palatability of the products. Processing and Preservation Processing and preservation is the best way of utilizing surplus production of fruits during seasonal gluts.

In the physical methods of preservation, fruits and vegetables are preserved by (i) adding heat, (ii) removing moisture content of produce to prevent spoilage and (iii) irradiated by Gama rays which kill the microorganisms responsible for spoilage of foods. These methods are described below. Processing and Preservation by Adding Heat or Heating In this method, heat treatment is given to destroy the microorganisms which are responsible for spoilage of the produce. Heat treatment is given by many methods.

In the previous chapter the physical methods of fruit and vegetables processing and preservation have been discussed. The present chapter deals with chemical method of fruit and vegetable preservation. In this method of preservation of fruits and vegetables, chemicals as preservatives are used to prevent the spoilage of fruit and vegetable products. These preservatives react with food (produce) constituents or microorganisms and create unfavourable conditions which hinder growth, activities and multiplication of microbes responsible for spoilage of food products. These chemical agents have maximum permissible limit of their use as law. They can be classified into two classes class I and class II. Class I: Sugar, Salt and Oils Class II: Sodium benzoate, Potassium metabisulphite (K M S) and Sorbic acid

Sugar also acts as preservative at high concentration 70% or more in food products (fruit and vegetable products). High concentration of sugar in food materials create unfavourable conditions for microbial survival and prevent spoilage. Based on this principle of preservation, sugar based products are prepared from fruits and vegetables so that they can be preserved for long time. This method of preservation with high sugar concentration is principally based on the reduction in moisture content to arrest or stop microbial spoilage. Preparation of sugar based products is one of the most important aspects of home scale as well as industrial level processing of fruits and vegetables. Sugar based value added products include.

Fermentation The decomposition of carbohydrates by microorganisms and enzymes is known as fermentation. During fermentation process of food organic acids and alcohol etc are produced which act as preservatives and also provide fine flavor and aroma that increase the value of raw materials. Most fermented foods contain a complex mixture of carbohydrates, proteins and fats etc. Fermentation occurs when microorganisms consume susceptible organic substances as a part of their own metabolic processes. Natural fermentation is probably oldest form of food preservation.

Preservation of food (fruits and vegetables) in common salt sand vinegar is called pickling. It is one of the most ancient method of preservation of fruits and vegetables. Pickling is the result of fermentation by Lactic acid forming bacteria which are found in large number on the surface of fruits and vegetables. They can grow in acidic medium and in the presence of 8-10 percent salt solution. The growth of majority of undesirable bacteria is inhibited. Lactic acid most active at 30 °C temperature. This temperature should be maintained during the process of pickling. Preparation of pickles Pickles are prepared with salt, vinegar and oil or combination of these ingredients. Spices are also used for pickle preparation.

Process of preservation of food stuffs such as fruits and vegetables whole or in pieces in sugar syrup or brine by heating them in hermetically sealed containers for long storage is known as canning. In other words canning is the process of sealing food stuffs hermetically in containers and sterilizing them by heat for long storage.

Several products of fruits and vegetables are prepared on commercial and home scale. Products development from fruits and vegetables is the best way to utilize excess produces and save them from post harvest losses.. Value Addition This is the process of improving the value of a commodity through processing by changing its form, increasing its shelf life or better presentation like packaging. Value addition can be done through the ways.

Packaging Packaging is a mean or system by which a fresh or processed product will reach from the production center to consumer in safe and sound condition at an affordable price. Objectives of packaging and packaging materials The primary objective or packaging is to protect the contents during storage, transportation and distribution against deterioration. It may be physical, chemical or biological. However, followings are objectives of packaging and packaging materials.

Several fruits and vegetables are unexploited for proper utilization and product development. Due to lack of utilization, there is a lot of wastage and ultimately the great loss to the people as well as nation. Some unexploited fruits and vegetables have potential for introducing new products. Therefore unexploited fruits and vegetables have to be exploited for new product development especially from underutilized sub-tropical and tropical fruits and vegetables. Research and development should be undertaken to utilize these fruits and vegetables. Unexploited Fruits Unripe Green Mango: Although pickles are prepared but droped green mango fruits are not preferred for pickle preparation. They can be dried and utilized for preparation of dried slices or amchur. Amchur is used to develop flavor and taste in Ice cream. These products are used to develop flavor and taste in meal or food. It is also used to prepare chatney. But utilization of Amchur is not known to common people. Avocado: It is found in tropical and sub-tropical climatic regions having more humidity and rainfall. In Ethiopia it is found throughout the country but not utilized properly by people. They prefer to eat ripe fruits with salt and lime juice. It is very healthy fruit for chronic disease like cardiac and diabeted diseases. This is seasonal use but no product is available for off season. Therefore researches should be carried out for different products development of Avocado products.

Appendix Processing Equipments, Utensils, Preservatives and Packaging Materials The success of processing and preservation is based on skills and quality of equipments used for preparation of different fruits and vegetable products. There are several equipments available in the kitchen and those which are not available they can be made available.