Vegetables and fruits are a living and respiring product that also senesce and dye after harvest. Freshly harvested fruits and vegetables are mostly comprised of water with most having 90 - 95% moisture content. Water loss after harvest is one of the most serious post-harvest conditions.
Fresh horticultural produce is highly perishable with some estimates suggesting a postharvest loss of 30 to 50% in fruits and vegetables. The loss occurs due to poor pre-production and post-harvest management as well as lack of appropriate processing and marketing facilities. These losses have several adverse impacts on farmer income, consumer prices and nutritional quality of the produce.
Absence of farm storage facility and proper pack house/packing station results in the perishable produce being marketed immediately after harvesting without primary processing and adequate packaging.
Poor control of storage conditions, storage for too long and inappropriate storage conditions for a particular commodity will result in poor quality product. Fruits and vegetables are living biological systems and they deteriorate after harvest. The rate of deterioration varies greatly between individual produce depending on their overall rate of metabolism. On the other hand, many volatile compounds evolved by the produce may accumulate in the storage system.
Perishable crop
