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Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables
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Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Horticultural Science and Ornamental Plants".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 21074

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Hong-Wei Xiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100107, China
Interests: fruits & vegetables; processing; preservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Xiaoyan Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Agri-food Processing and Nutrition, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Interests: vegetable processing; biologically active substance; byproduct utilization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food security is the cornerstone of national and social stability. Feeding the increasingly growing and affluent population in a sustainable way is a profound challenge. Agricultural production and food supply chains have been broken by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in higher prices, hunger and possible food crisis. According to the World Food Program’s 2020 Global Report on Food Crises, the COVID-19 has caused at least 130 million people at risk of hunger.

Fruit and vegetable consumption plays a key role in people's health as well as the sustainable agriculture production systems as it can reduce the incidence of diet-related chronic non-communicable diseases and the corresponding environmental footprint compared to foods from animals. Due to high moisture content, delicate tissue, high respiratory intensity, the postharvest fruits and vegetables are very easy to rot. At present, the postharvest loss of fruit and vegetable is about 28-36%. So reducing postharvest loss of fruits and vegetables is of great significance to ensure food security and innovative and emerging technologies for reducing postharvest loss of fruits and vegetables are very desirable and needed by food industry. 

Therefore, we launch this special issue, namely “Emerging technologies for reducing postharvest loss of fruits and vegetables” and call for high quality research and review papers on the following topics:

  • Emerging storage technologies for reducing postharvest loss of fruits and vegetables;
  • Emerging packaging and cold chain transportation technologies for E-commerce fruits and vegetables;
  • Emerging chemical (e.g. electrolyzed water, ozone, organic acids) and physical disinfection technologies (e.g. cold plasma, UV-light, pulsed light, high hydrostatic pressure ) for fresh-cut fruits and vegetables;
  • Emerging drying technologies for reducing postharvest loss of fruits and vegetables;
  • New technologies of fruits and vegetable juice processing;
  • New technologies for extracting bioactive ingredients from fruits and vegetables

We hope this special issue will be a platform for the exchange of new technologies and achievements of postharvest loss reduction of fruits and vegetables, so as to jointly respond to and solve food security issues.

Prof. Dr. Hong-Wei Xiao
Prof. Dr. Xiaoyan Zhao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • postharvest loss
  • fruits and vegetables
  • food security
  • agricultural products processing
  • Controlled Atmosphere Storage
  • cold chain transportation
  • disinfection technologies
  • drying technologies
  • Vacuum-steam pulsed blanching (VSPB)
  • bioactive ingredients extraction
  • electrolyzed water
  • cold plasma
  • UV-light

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 6681 KiB  
Article
Effects of Steam and Water Blanching on Drying Characteristics, Water Distribution, Microstructure, and Bioactive Components of Gastrodia Elata
by Yong-Kang Xie, Xing-Yi Li, Chang Chen, Wei-Peng Zhang, Xian-Long Yu, Hong-Wei Xiao and Feng-Yin Lu
Plants 2023, 12(6), 1372; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12061372 - 20 Mar 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2196
Abstract
In the current work, the effects of steam and boiling water blanching on the drying characteristics, water distribution, microstructure, and contents of bioactive substances of Gastrodia elata (G. elata) were explored. Results showed that the degree of steaming and blanching was [...] Read more.
In the current work, the effects of steam and boiling water blanching on the drying characteristics, water distribution, microstructure, and contents of bioactive substances of Gastrodia elata (G. elata) were explored. Results showed that the degree of steaming and blanching was related to the core temperature of G. elata. The steaming and blanching pretreatment increased the drying time of the samples by more than 50%. The low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) of treated samples showed that the relaxation time corresponded to water molecule states (bound, immobilized, and free) and G. elata became shorter, which indicated a reduction in free moisture and increased resistance of water diffusion in the solid structure during drying. Hydrolysis of polysaccharides and gelatinization of starch granules was observed in the microstructure of treated samples, which was consistent with changes in water status and drying rates. Steaming and blanching increased gastrodin and crude polysaccharide contents and decreased p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol content. These findings will contribute to a better understanding of the effect of steaming and blanching on the drying behavior and quality attributes of G. elata. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables)
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14 pages, 1708 KiB  
Article
Effects of Hydrogen Sulfide on Sugar, Organic Acid, Carotenoid, and Polyphenol Level in Tomato Fruit
by Yanqin Zhang, Fahong Yun, Xiaoling Man, Dengjing Huang and Weibiao Liao
Plants 2023, 12(4), 719; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12040719 - 6 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2011
Abstract
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is known to have a positive effect on the postharvest storage of vegetables and fruits, but limited results are available on its influence in fruit flavor quality. Here, we presented the effect of H2S on the [...] Read more.
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is known to have a positive effect on the postharvest storage of vegetables and fruits, but limited results are available on its influence in fruit flavor quality. Here, we presented the effect of H2S on the flavor quality of tomato fruit during postharvest. H2S decreased the content of fructose, glucose, carotene and lycopene but increased that of soluble protein, organic acid, malic acid and citric acid. These differences were directly associated with the expression of their metabolism-related genes. Moreover, H2S treatment raised the contents of total phenolics, total flavonoids and most phenolic compounds, and up-regulated the expression level of their metabolism-related genes (PAL5, 4CL, CHS1, CHS2, F3H and FLS). However, the effects of the H2S scavenger hypotaurine on the above flavor quality parameters were opposite to that of H2S, thus confirming the role of H2S in tomato flavor quality. Thus, these results provide insight into the significant roles of H2S in tomato fruit quality regulation and implicate the potential application of H2S in reducing the flavor loss of tomato fruit during postharvest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables)
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16 pages, 3531 KiB  
Article
Optimization of Conditions for a Freeze-Dried Restructured Strawberry Block by Adding Guar Gum, Pectin and Gelatin
by Jiaqi Hu, Xiyun Sun, Hongwei Xiao, Feifei Yang, Chunju Liu, Haiou Wang, Honglin Zhang and Wei Zhang
Plants 2022, 11(21), 2809; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11212809 - 22 Oct 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1831
Abstract
With its high moisture content and tender texture, fresh strawberry is very susceptible to mechanical damage and microbial infection. Drying is one of the most frequently employed methods to extend its shelf life, and freeze-dried restructured strawberry block (FRSB) is an emerging popular [...] Read more.
With its high moisture content and tender texture, fresh strawberry is very susceptible to mechanical damage and microbial infection. Drying is one of the most frequently employed methods to extend its shelf life, and freeze-dried restructured strawberry block (FRSB) is an emerging popular food. Here, in order to enhance the quality of FRSB, edible gums of guar gum, pectin, and gelatin were added and the combination was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) with chewiness, hardness, and organoleptic evaluations of the dried sample as the response indicators. The results showed that the combination addition of 0.10% guar gum, 0.22% pectin, and 0.30% gelatin contributed to the highest comprehensive quality of the dried sample. Compared with the untreated sample, the optimal combination addition of the three edible gums resulted in a higher moisture content for the dried sample (increased by 0.8%), and increased the chewiness, hardness, and porosity by 82.04%, 27.09%, and 3.01%, respectively, while maintaining more original color and forming a denser porous microstructure. The findings in the current work will be useful for the application of edible gums in freeze-dried restructured fruits and vegetables. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables)
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14 pages, 3856 KiB  
Article
Pulsed Vacuum Drying of Persimmon Slices: Drying Kinetics, Physicochemical Properties, Microstructure and Antioxidant Capacity
by Kai-Wen Yang, Dong Wang, Sriram K. Vidyarthi, Suo-Bin Li, Zi-Liang Liu, Hui Wang, Xian-Jun Chen and Hong-Wei Xiao
Plants 2022, 11(19), 2500; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11192500 - 23 Sep 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1806
Abstract
In order to explore an alternative drying method to enhance the drying process and quality of persimmon slices, pulsed vacuum drying (PVD) was employed and the effects of different drying temperatures (60, 65, 70, and 75 °C) on drying kinetics, color, rehydration ratio [...] Read more.
In order to explore an alternative drying method to enhance the drying process and quality of persimmon slices, pulsed vacuum drying (PVD) was employed and the effects of different drying temperatures (60, 65, 70, and 75 °C) on drying kinetics, color, rehydration ratio (RR), microstructure, bioactive compounds, and the antioxidant capacity of sliced persimmons were investigated in the current work. Results showed that the rehydration ratio (RR) of the samples under PVD was significantly higher than that of the traditional hot air-dried ones. Compared to the fresh samples, the dried persimmon slices indicated a decrease in the bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity. The total phenolic content (TPC) of PVD samples at 70 °C was 87.96% higher than that of the hot air-dried persimmon slices at 65 °C. Interestingly, at 70 °C, the soluble tannin content and TPC of the PVD samples reached the maximum values of 6.09 and 6.97 mg GAE/g, respectively. The findings in the current work indicate that PVD is a promising drying method for persimmon slices as it not only enhances the drying process but also the quality attributes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables)
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16 pages, 3110 KiB  
Article
Impact of Storage Condition on Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Pomelo Extract against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Anthracnose in Post-harvest Mango
by Yu-Jung Cheng, Ying-Jou Wu, Fang-Wei Lee, Ling-Yi Ou, Chi-Nan Chen, Yu-Ying Chu and Yen-Chou Kuan
Plants 2022, 11(15), 2064; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11152064 - 7 Aug 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2797
Abstract
Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum leads to a tremendous post-harvest mango loss. While chemical fungicides are applied to control anthracnose, natural alternatives are preferred due to food safety and environmental concerns. Pomelo extract (PE) exhibits a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities; however, its effect [...] Read more.
Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum leads to a tremendous post-harvest mango loss. While chemical fungicides are applied to control anthracnose, natural alternatives are preferred due to food safety and environmental concerns. Pomelo extract (PE) exhibits a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities; however, its effect against anthracnose is unknown. Here we investigated the chemical profile of PE using GC-MS and the anti-anthracnose activity of PE using in vitro and in vivo assays. We also evaluated the impact of storage temperature (0°, 5°, 10°, 20°, −20°, and −80 °C) and light conditions on the composition and antifungal activity of PE. We found that PE inhibited C. gloeosporioides in vitro with an IC50 of 3.2 mL L−1. Applying chitosan-based coating incorporated with 20 mL L−1 PE significantly suppressed anthracnose in post-harvest ‘Keitt’ mango. A storage temperature below 5 °C substantially preserved major compounds and the antifungal activity of PE after 6 m of storage. Finally, we showed that applying d-limonene, the key constituent of PE, inhibited C. gloeosporioides in vitro (IC50: 10.9 mM) and suppressed anthracnose in vivo. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the application of PE and d-limonene are sustainable methods for anthracnose control in post-harvest crops and established the preservation protocol for PE. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables)
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22 pages, 40559 KiB  
Article
Impact of Storage Controlled Atmosphere on the Apple Phenolic Acids, Flavonoids, and Anthocyanins and Antioxidant Activity In Vitro
by Aurita Butkeviciute, Jonas Viskelis, Mindaugas Liaudanskas, Pranas Viskelis and Valdimaras Janulis
Plants 2022, 11(2), 201; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11020201 - 13 Jan 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2320
Abstract
Apples are seasonal fruits, and it is important to prepare them adequately for storage and ensure proper storage conditions. In this study, we used ten different apple cultivars: ‘Alva’, ‘Auksis’, ‘Connell Red’, ‘Cortland’, ‘Ligol’, ‘Lodel’, ‘Noris’, ‘Rubin’, ‘Sampion’, and ‘Spartan’. We studied the [...] Read more.
Apples are seasonal fruits, and it is important to prepare them adequately for storage and ensure proper storage conditions. In this study, we used ten different apple cultivars: ‘Alva’, ‘Auksis’, ‘Connell Red’, ‘Cortland’, ‘Ligol’, ‘Lodel’, ‘Noris’, ‘Rubin’, ‘Sampion’, and ‘Spartan’. We studied the qualitative and quantitative composition of phenolic compounds in the apple and apple extracts antioxidants activity before placing them in the controlled atmosphere chambers and again at the end of the experiment, eight months later. Different concentrations of O2, CO2, and N2, constant temperature, relative humidity, and removal of endogenous ethylene were continually maintained. HPLC analysis showed that the highest amount of 2265.7 ± 152.5 µg/g of chlorogenic acid was found in apple samples of the ‘Auksis’ cultivar stored under variant IV conditions. Different concentrations of gas in the controlled atmosphere chambers caused changes in antioxidant activity in whole apple and apple peel extracts. In our study, we found that the antioxidant activity of apple extracts varied between samples of different apple cultivars and depended on the composition of the controlled atmosphere. Determining the optimal storage conditions is beneficial to providing the consumers with apples that have a known and minimally altered chemical composition of phenolic compounds and the strongest antioxidant activity, which determine the use of apples in the healthy food chain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables)
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Review

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28 pages, 3023 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances in Novel Packaging Technologies for Shelf-Life Extension of Guava Fruits for Retaining Health Benefits for Longer Duration
by Ajay Yadav, Nishant Kumar, Ashutosh Upadhyay, Olaniyi Amos Fawole, Manoj Kumar Mahawar, Kirti Jalgaonkar, Deepak Chandran, Sureshkumar Rajalingam, Gokhan Zengin, Manoj Kumar and Mohamed Mekhemar
Plants 2022, 11(4), 547; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11040547 - 18 Feb 2022
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 6285
Abstract
Guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit is also known as the apple of tropics, belongs to the family of genus Psidium, and is widely cultivated in tropical zones of the world. Recently, the importance of guava fruit has increased due to its inherent [...] Read more.
Guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit is also known as the apple of tropics, belongs to the family of genus Psidium, and is widely cultivated in tropical zones of the world. Recently, the importance of guava fruit has increased due to its inherent nutritional content, pleasant aroma, excellent flavor, and delicious taste. It is considered an excellent source of nutrients and phytochemicals. Guava is a climacteric fruit that continues to mature or ripen even after harvest, showing an increase in the rate of respiration and metabolic activities within a short period, leading to rapid senescence or spoilage of fruit. It has limitations in terms of commercialization due to short storage life after harvest and sensitivity to diseases and chilling injury during the storage period. Many postharvest technologies such as edible packaging, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), composite packaging, controlled atmosphere packaging (CAP), antimicrobial/antifungal packaging, and nano packaging have been used to retard the chilling injury and enhance the keeping quality of guava fruits during the storage period to control respiration rate, reduce weight loss, minimize lipid oxidation, and maintain organoleptic properties. However, these packaging technologies have varied effects on the internal and external quality attributes of guava fruits. This review, therefore, discusses the physiology, mechanism of ripening, oxidation, and ethylene production of guava fruits. The review also discusses the packaging technologies and their effect on the postharvest characteristics of guava fruits during the storage period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies for Reducing Postharvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables)
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