eChapters

23.1 INTRODUCTION

Mandarin oranges are the most popular among the citrus fruits and alone occupy more than 50% share under widely divergent citrus crops grown across the globe. In India, oranges have a place of prominence among fruit kind after mango and banana. It’s delicious, relishing, nutritious and handy fruits offer best mouth feel especially during summer when other fruits fail to quench thirst of throat. There is a need of scientific handling so as to accentuate trade and to exploit market potential of mandarin fruit.

Country wide, orange covers an area of 5.02 lakh hectares and the production is of the order of 43.96 lakh tonnes accounting for 12.03% and 6.40 % share under total acreage and production respectively in the fruits (Anon., 2010). Orange’s production in developed countries is projected to grow at an annualized rate of 0.6 per cent and that in developing country at 0.8 per cent.

In Rajasthan, ‘Nagpur’ mandarin and ‘Kinnow’ fruits occupy a place of prominence among various citrus crops grown. Cultivation of ‘Nagpur’ mandarin is mainly concentrated to Jhalawar district where it covers about 6040 ha area producing 87586 tons fruits, annually. After the implementation of National Horticulture Mission the area is further increasing steadily in the district.

1. INTRODUCTION

India is a vast country having a geographical area of 328 million hectares with 15 distinct agro-climatic zones. Fruits and vegetables are one of the most important and fast growing sub-sectors as they form an indispensable part of healthy diet. It holds a unique position for growing a wide range of vegetables in its diverse agro-climatic conditions. World production of vegetables amounts to 486 million tons, while that of fruits is 392 million tons. India produces 159.5m MT tons of vegetables from an area of 9.07 million hectare annually (NHB, 2013). Productivity of vegetables in India presently is 16.7 tons per hectare. India produces 36 % green peas and 10% onion of world’s production. Onion, potatoes and green vegetables like okra, bitter gourd and green chillies also have good export potential. Being rich in vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and natural antioxidants most vegetables are classified as the protective foods. However, owing to the presence of high moisture content and mostly being non acidic, the vegetables are highly perishable and needs to be handled properly and immediately after harvest. Processing of vegetables into different value added products is one of the most effective alternatives to reduce post harvest losses.

Vegetables are highly beneficial for the maintenance of health and disease prevention. An intake of about 280 grams of vegetables per day per person has been considered essential. Vegetable unlike cereals deteriorated quickly when stored for long periods because of the relatively high moisture contents. Huge amounts of losses take place between harvesting and consumption. Various causes are attributed to the deterioration process and it becomes essential to adopt integrated, low cost system of post harvest technology right from the pre-harvest stage.

Flowers are highly perishable unlike other horticultural or agricultural crops. Owing to poor keeping quality the post harvest losses in floriculture are significantly higher than any other sector. Although there has been significant increase in the area, production and productivity of flower crops in the last two decades, there is an urgent need to minimize the huge post harvest losses in terms of the value of the produce which are estimated to be 30-40 per cent of farm value. The post harvest behavior of flowers is an outcome of the physiological processes, occurring in leave, stem, flower bud, leafless peduncle or scape connecting bud to the stem. Some of these processes may act independently to affect the senescence and vase life of cut flowers but most of them are inter-related. The nature and extent of post harvest damage is typical for each crop or cultivar. The post harvest losses become important especially when dealing with the export of fresh flowers to distant and foreign market. Therefore, patient, soft and expert handling of flowers is of utmost importance after harvest.

Fruits and vegetables are living tissues subject to continuous change after harvest. Some changes are desirable from consumer point of view but most are not. Post-harvest changes in fresh fruit cannot be stopped, but these can be slowed down within certain limits to enhance the shelf life of fruits. The post-harvest handling plays an important role in extending the storage and marketable life of horticultural perishables.

Post Harvest Treat ment of Fruits and Vegetables Washing

It is useful in removing surface adhering material water. Mechanically, it is also accomplished by passing the fruits/vegetables through machine arranged with water tank equipped with rotating brush. In some produce washing improves appeal by facilitating removal of sap as case in mango, papaya, jackfruit, kronda, dirt in case of carrot, reddish, turnip, sugar beet, sweet potato, etc. and for removal of debris in case of banana. The water use for the purpose should be cleaned otherwise fungal and bacterial levels may build up. Disinfected treatment using ultraviolet light, ozone, chlorine (100 ppm), calcium hydroxide, etc. help to clean water for washing purpose.

Fruits and vegetables account for nearly 90% of total horticulture production in the country. India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world and the leader in several horticultural crops namely Mango, Banana, Papaya, Cashewnut, Arecanut, Potato and Okra. However, the nature of horticultural crops being such that it’s not easy to make assessment of their production. These crops, especially vegetables are grown in small plots, fields or in the backyard of the houses; do not have single harvesting in most of the cases which makes their assessment difficult. Many horticultural crops have multiple pickings in a single season. Similarly many fruit trees are scattered, which do not count for assessment.

India has witnessed increase in horticulture production over the last few years. Significant progress has been made in area expansion resulting in higher production. Over the last decade, the area under horticulture grew by 2.6% per annum and annual production increased by 4.8%. During 2017-18, the production of horticulture crops was 311.71 Million Tonnes from an area of 25.43 Million Hectares. The production of vegetables has increased from 101.2 Million Tonnes to 184.40 Million Tonnes since 2004-05 to 2017-18 and production of fruits has increased from 50.9 Million Tonnes to 97.35 Million Tonnes since 2004-05 to 2017-18.

The storage life of fresh lemon at 10ºC is

A. 6-10 weeks           B. 10-15 weeks

C. 12-20 weeks        D. 12-16 weeks

Since time immemorial, spices have played a vital role in world food trade, due to their varied properties and applications. We primarily depend on spices for flavour and fragrance as well as colour, preservative, inherent therapeutic, medicinal and appetizing properties. The spices that India can offer in abundant quantities are pepper, ginger, turmeric, chili, cardamom, celery, fenugreek, fennel, cumin, dill, coriander, cinnamon, ajowan, cloves, nutmeg, mace etc.

Tuber crops are rated as one of the richest sources of energy, besides being a treasure house of vitamins and minerals. The highest rate of dry matter production per day per unit area makes tuber crops important in the food economy, especially in meeting rural feed security. The tuber crop produce can also be processed into various food products to suit the taste and need of the urban, semi-urban and rural folk as well. Better post harvest management and diversification for production of value added products is one of the dependable methods to make tuber crops lucrative to both farmers and entrepreneurs.

Need to know Physiological maturity (PM), Harvestable maturity (HM) and harvesting method

·    If these factors are considered, the harvest produce will have the maximum seed quality characters in terms of germination, vigour and storability.

 The maturity is of two types depending on the purpose. If the crop is for grain production it is enough to harvest the crop during harvestable maturity. But when the crop is meant for seed purpose it is advisable to harvest the crop during physiological maturity.

About 25% of worldís total food production is lost due to insects, bacteria and rodents after harvesting.

Indiaís exports of Processed Food was Rs. 31563.43 Crores in 2014-15, which includes products like Mango pulp (Rs. 841.39 Crores), Dried and Preserved vegetable (Rs. 847.11 Crores), Other Processed Fruit and Vegetable (Rs. 2,569.93 Crores), Pulses (Rs. 1,209.51 Crores), Groundnuts (Rs. 4,675.35 Crores), Guargum (Rs. 9,480.00 Crores), Jaggery and Confectionary (Rs. 1,161.81 Crores), Cocoa Products (Rs. 848.62 Crores), Cereal preparations (Rs. 3,038.79 Crores), Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic beverages (Rs. 2,231.58 Crores) and Miscellaneous preparations (Rs. 2,437.77 Crores).

Horticultural crops are highly perishable and the post-harvest loss is estimated to be 20-30% every year. There are various factors associated with post-harvest losses. It includes pre-harvest cultural operations, maturity index at which the produce is harvested, methods of harvest, pre and post-harvest treatments, packing materials and storage methods. Postharvest technology can be defined as the techniques which help to reduce the post-harvest losses.

Assessment of harvesting stage

Climate may be related to periodical events in plants life. The science dealing with this relationship is termed as phenology. The phenological data for horticultural crops include dates of planting, germination, flowering, fruit set, ripening and harvest. These dates are determined by the climatic factors prior to as well at the time of harvest. A useful phonological concept for the prediction of the harvest time is based on degree days. A “ Degree day” can be defined as a day when mean daily temperature is one degree above the minimum temperature for the growth of the plant. The minimum temperature for the growth of a particular plant is termed as “zero temperature”. Zero temperature vary according to crop. E.g. if zero temperature of a particular crop is 50°F, then a day with mean temperature of 68°F would provide 18° days. The degree days are also called as “heat units”. It can be determined by how many degree days are needed for the horticultural crop to reach harvesting stage.

Importance of Post Harvest Technology

1.     Proper handling, packaging, transportation and storage reduce the post harvest losses of fruit and vegetables. For every one percent reduction in loss will save 5 million tons of fruit and vegetable per year.

2.     Processing and preservation technology helps to save excess fruit and vegetable during the glut season (off season).

3.     The technology has become a necessity to improve the food safety and strengthen nation’s food security.

4.     The technology helps to boost export of agricultural commodities in the form of preserved and value added products.

5.     Presently mango, pineapple, citrus, grapes, tomatoes, peas, potato and cucumber being processed on a large scale.

9.2. Causes of Post-Harvest Losses (A) Primary Causes: (B) Secondary Causes: • Mechanical injury. • State of maturity. • Physio-biochemical losses. • Time of harvesting. • Microbial losses. • Storage facilities. • Physical losses. • Bruishing caused due to transportation and distribution. 9.3. Control of Post-Harvest Losses The extent of post harvest losses in vegetables can be minimized by • Careful harvesting. • Harvesting of vegetables at the right stage of maturity. • Proper sorting, grading and packing. • Careful transportation and distribution. • Adequate and suitable storage facilities. • Pre and post harvest treatment

Post-harvest deterioration primarily means the loss of commodity after harvest. It is one of the serious problems for producers, distributors and consumers. Post-harvest deterioration of perishables is the spoilage of fruits and vegetables after harvesting. Perishables are the feed commodities with moisture content between 50 and 90%. Fruits with the size of 5 g to 5 kg or more, high to very high rate of respiration, high generation of heat, soft texture, easily damageable nature and shorter shelf life are more prone to the microbial damage. The post-harvest losses are caused either by pathological, physiological and mechanical means or combination of all these. These perishables because of having minerals, vitamins, and photochemicals (essentially required for the human health) become victim to the several biotic and abiotic factors easily. Once these fruits are detached from the plant are deprived of essential ingredients as hormones, nutrients, water and other requisites. These biotic and abiotic factors apart from rendering the produce unfit for human consumption reduce the aesthetic value, substantial decrease in food value and also organoleptic quality of the vegetables. The fleshy produce are prone to the exogenous agencies such as fungi, bacteria, etc. as well as other endogenous factors such as respiration, senescence, etc. which may lead to poor quality of the produce and also affect market quality. These perishables continue to respire and may carry out various biochemical activities, leading to ripening subsequently to senescence and making them more susceptible to microbial damage. In addition, tropical conditions prevailing in India, which are characterized by high temperature conditions, are optimal for fungal and bacterial infections. In India, the post-harvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables are estimated to be about 30%. The post-harvest losses have been recorded are 5-20% at farmer’s field due to pre-harvest infection and sorting, 15-20% due to faulty packaging, 30-40% during transportation and 30-40% during marketing.

Quality Components of the Produce

Various components of quality are used to evaluate the products in relation to specific grades and standards and responses to various environmental factors and post-harvest treatments. The relative importance of each factor depends upon the commodity and its intended use, fresh or processed. The main quality components of vegetables are mentioned below

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.

• Fruit and vegetable processing was 1^st started in organized manner in 1857
• Canning of fruit and vegetable started in 1927
• Needham (1729) 1^st time explained: cause of spoilage of stored food
• Nicholus Appert (1804) 1^st preserved the food in glass containers
• Cooking of food by means of preserve started by Papin in 1861
• In India, 1^st fruit and vegetable processing industry was established in 1935 at Mumbai
• In 1950, CFTRI was established at Mysore
• FPO: Food Product Order was passed by Govt of India in 1955
• 1^st fruit preservation and Canning Institute was established in 1949 at Lucknow

I. POST HARVEST DISEASES

A. Post-Harvest Diseases of Fruits

7.1 Method of Drying Cucumber and Pumpkin Seeds: Seeds are combined with wood ash and spread on a plate (Thali) under direct sunlight. This accelerates drying by allowing the wood ash to absorb excess moisture from the seeds, preventing them from clumping together (Mandi, Himachal Pradesh). Verma (1998).

7.2 Drying of Millets, Pulses, and Oilseeds on New Moon Days: Grains are sun-dried to remove moisture. This practice is typically carried out on a 'new moon' day, believed to reduce vulnerability to pest damage (Tamil Nadu). Parvathi et al. (2000). Most of the farmers are storing grain in Amavasya (New moon) because it is believed that risk of pest attack is high in the moonlight as compared to new moon. The leaf of Azadirachta indica (neem) and Calotropis procera (madar) are mixed with cow dung. This mixture used as an excel- lent insecticide and pest growth inhibitor (Joseph et al. 2013; Misra 2014).

7.3 Drying Wheat and Maize Cobs Using Indirect Heat: For drying wheat and maize cobs, indirect heat from the hearth (Chullah) is employed. In traditional houses, typically with three floors, the ground floor shelters domestic animals, the first floor serves as living quarters, and above the kitchen lies a storeroom where freshly harvested maize cobs and wheat are placed for drying. Sunlight also aids in the drying process (Kangra, Himachal Pradesh). Verma (1998).

11.1 Introduction

Horticultural crops are grown by farmers with the aim of generating profit. For a business to prosper, it is crucial that its products are delivered to customers who are satisfied with their quality and value, and who will continue to purchase them. Therefore, growers must continually meet consumers’ demand for fresh greenhouse-grown items by utilizing all available technology and expertise in producing, harvesting, packaging, storing, transporting, and marketing their goods. The needs of the consumer should drive production.