**About the Editors**

#### **Maria Dulce Carlos Antunes**

Maria Dulce Carlos Antunes graduated in Agricultural Engineering and has a Master's degree in Protected Crop Cultivation and a PhD in Horticultural Production-Agricultural Sciences from the University of Algarve. Her domain of specialisation is the postharvest physiology and technology of horticultural products, with present research interests in the development of postharvest technologies to improve the storage life of horticultural commodities, which retain quality and food safety and minimize the environmental impact and the physiology and biotechnology of the metabolic processes that occur during the ripening and senescence of horticultural commodities. She has published more than 100 papers in scientific journals and international conferences. She is a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences and Bio-engineering at the Faculty of Science and Technology in the Algarve University and an integrated member in the Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development. Presently, she is the head of the Post-harvest Laboratory, coordinating research projects on Postharvest science and technology for horticultural crops.

#### **Cust ´odia Maria Lu´ıs Gago**

Custodia Maria Lu ´ ´ıs Gago graduated in Agronomic Engineering and has a Master's degree in Horticulture and a PhD in Agrarian Sciences. She is an integrated member in the Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development (MED) and is a researcher hired by the University of Algarve (UAlg). She has worked on research projects in postharvest science and technology of horticultural products. Currently, her research is focused on the utilization of edible nano-coatings to delay ripening and prevent chilling injuries in susceptible fruits. The coating's formulations include essential oils with antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. She has published at least 50 papers in scientific journals and international conferences.

#### **Adriana Guerreiro**

Adriana Guerreiro (PhD) graduated in Agronomic Engineering since 2009, with a Master's degree in Horticulture (2012). She completed her PhD in Agrarian sciences at the University of Algarve, Portugal in 2016. Her work is related to the research she has been conducting since her graduation. She has demonstrated skills in reading, analysis, research, critical thinking, and writing, resulting in the publication of over 40 articles in specialized journals and books. She participates in several research projects. In her professional activities, she has interacted with 85 collaborators in terms of the co-authorship of scientific papers. She works in the areas of agricultural sciences, on postharvest, agriculture, horticulture, food biotechnology, in exact sciences with respect to physics, and in biological sciences with respect to microbiology.

## *Editorial* **Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Products**

**Maria Dulce Antunes 1,\*, Custódia Gago <sup>1</sup> and Adriana Guerreiro <sup>2</sup>**


Fruit and vegetables are in a live state after harvest. Continued respiration results in carbon dioxide production, moisture, and heat, which influence the storage environment, packaging, and refrigeration requirements. A current knowledge of good practices for the harvest and postharvest handling of fresh horticultural products is fundamental due to their high perishability [1,2]. It is estimated that 30% of produced horticultural commodities are lost in the process between harvest and consumption [3]. The reduction in these losses is imperative nowadays, because it will impact back the amount of produced food, with benefits on agricultural inputs, water and land use, contributing to the sustainability of agriculture and the planet.

Over time, postharvest researchers have looked for the best ways and technologies that allow us to reduce quality loss after harvest and increase the storage capacity of horticultural products with the aim of reducing their losses.

In this "Special Issue" of the *Horticulturae* MDPI journal we intended to collect a series of research recently conducted on the subject. This Special Issue contains 13 scientific papers covering different areas of the postharvest handling of horticultural products. The subjects covered report on the knowledge of the physiology and biochemistry of the horticultural commodities and the study of technologies that can improve product quality and storage, reducing postharvest loss.

Raspberries are of the most perishable fresh fruit. Although classified as non-climacteric fruit, several studies have reported that fruit ripening and abscission are regulated by ethylene production from the receptacle [4–6]. To understand the relationship between ethylene production and fruit quality at the beginning of the ripening process, ref. [7] reported ethylene and ripening parameter changes in fruit at 0 and 10 ◦C. They conclude that ethylene production is negatively correlated to firmness through ripening, but not with SSC or titratable acidity. Moreover, the positive correlation between firmness and CO2 production in the whole fruit suggests a ripening behavior for 'Heritage' raspberry, raising the importance of further studies on the physiology of non-climacteric fruit ripening.

Physiological disorders in long-term cold storage are a key issue concerning postharvest losses in susceptible horticultural commodities. The physiology of the disorder and pre- and postharvest technologies that reduce those physiological disorders have a major impact in the postharvest industry. In the present "Special Issue", four papers report on apple, pear, and peach. For apple, the effects of 1-MCP and CaCl2 on fatty acid composition and their relationship with storage physiological disorders were studied [8]. A new method to induce superficial scald in stored pear was developed by [9] in order to better study the mechanisms of physiological disorder developments. The postharvest treatment with calcium and ascorbic acid was reported to reduce symptoms of chilling injury in peaches storage [10].

**Citation:** Antunes, M.D.; Gago, C.; Guerreiro, A. Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Products. *Horticulturae* **2022**, *8*, 726. https:// doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8080726

Received: 2 August 2022 Accepted: 4 August 2022 Published: 12 August 2022

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**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

In banana, the enzymes involved in the browning of the cut-end surface were studied; it was found that postharvest treatments with oxalic acid could significantly reduce browning, improving fruit quality [11].

Tomato is a very important crop worldwide. In this Special Issue, three studies of this fruit are presented. The maintenance of tomato quality was improved over its shelf-life using calcium chloride, hydrogen peroxide, chitosan, and ozonated water postharvest fruit treatment [12]. Different packaging materials and storage temperatures were studied to reduce okra pod decay through storage and marketing [13].

A kinetic model for the effect of the vibrations of fruit after harvest on their quality during storage was presented [14]. Another paper reports the effect of transport temperature and vibration on final tomato fruit quality [15]. Additionally, the bruising impact drop in guava fruit was modulated by using image processing and response surface methodology, with the objective to reduce the impact bruising incidence of guava throughout its supply chain [16].

Another study provides a scientific basis for investigating the molecular mechanisms of pepper storage tolerance via transcriptomics and metabolomics [17].

One paper also presents the importance of ethephon treatment, a commercial product releasing ethylene, on the abscission of palm fruit, which are grown for seed oil production [18].

Vase life is one of the most important factors that determines the marketability of cut flowers. A study on hydrangea flowers reports the importance of preservative solutions in order to improve the water balance for each distribution stage in its supply chain [19].

This Special Issue provides a valuable contribution for the understanding of the horticultural products' postharvest physiology and implementation of technologies to reduce quality loss during the supply chain. In this way, this Special Issue contributes to reductions in food loss, promoting the sustainability of agriculture.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


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