Preharvest and Postharvest Factors affecting Fruit and Vegetables Quality, Physiology, and Shelf-Life - Volume II

This Research Topic is the second volume of Preharvest and Postharvest Factors affecting Fruit and Vegetables Quality, Physiology, and Shelf-Life.Improving crop quality and shelf-life is a challenge in the context of a global horticultural food supply. Horticultural crops are an important source of carbohydrates, proteins, organic acids, vitamins and minerals for human nutrition and health. In addition to the health benefits that can be derived from their consumption, fruits and vegetable also function as precious sources of bioactive compounds for food functionalization or nutraceutical preparations. To improve quality and reduce losses, producers and handlers should understand the biological, environmental, and technological factors affecting quality and deterioration. Fresh horticultural products are living tissues subject to continuous changes after harvest as they are high in water content and, for that reason, are subject to weight loss and mechanical injury. Horticultural commodities are perishable products with an active metabolism, subject to extensive losses through microbial decay, physical injury and senescence during postharvest life. Postharvest changes in horticultural products cannot be stopped, but they can be slowed within certain limits. The maintenance or improvement of the postharvest life of fresh horticultural products is becoming increasingly important. Indeed, appropriate preharvest techniques and postharvest handling and technology play a key role in increasing food availability and maintaining food quality. Fresh horticultural products are different in terms of morphological structure (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, etc.), composition, and general physiology. For that reason, commodities requirements and recommendations to maintain quality and improve postharvest life vary among products. The connection between quality build-up in the preharvest period and its impact on the technological quality traits have been frequently overlooked and detailed knowledge is still missing. During postharvest life, as maturation progresses, genetic, chemical and environmental control can help to maintain product quality. Improving shelf-life, maintaining quality, and reducing waste while reducing the use of chemicals are mandatory to meet the consumer's demand and reduce losses along the food chain.It is very important to highlight the most significant changes occurring during maturity-ripening as pre-harvest and post-harvest factors affecting fruit and vegetable quality at harvest time. Preharvest growth and development is a critical period for the formation of the quality and resistance of horticultural crops (products), and most pathogens remain quiescent for a long time in this period. The main pre-harvest factors influencing quality are related to environmental factors, such as light, temperature, rainfall, soil, and cultural practices, including the use of suitable cultivars, fertilization, irrigation, pruning, spraying, etc. The main post-harvest factors influencing quality of fruits and vegetables are genotype, maturity stage, harvest (method and time), and the applied technologies that affect the conditions during postharvest chain (sorting and grading, packaging, storage, and transportation).The aim of this Research Topic is to highlight and describe recent and advanced research regarding pre-harvest and postharvest factors and technology that affect horticultural product (fresh and processed) physiology, quality and shelf-life. In order to understand the effects of preharvest and postharvest factors on the postharvest quality, disease, maturity, senescence, and shelf life of horticultural crops, this Research Topic will collect the relevant research papers related to this topic.Potential topics to be covered:• Advanced agronomic practices to enhance quality and shelf-life of fruits and vegetables, and the physiological, hormonal, or metabolic mechanisms through which they shape preharvest quality build-up and postharvest performance.• Advanced postharvest technologies enhance quality and shelf-life of fruits and vegetables, with insight into how they modulate respiration, ethylene biosynthesis and signaling, oxidative stress, or senescence pathways.• Advanced technologies to enhance and verify safety, health, and sustainability of fresh and minimally processed fruits and vegetables, including the biochemical and cellular responses that underpin their effects on tissue integrity, defense metabolism, and microbial interactions.• Physiology and technology of fresh and minimally processed products, with emphasis on the wound responses, membrane changes, and metabolic shifts that drive quality loss and how processing parameters modulate them.• Controlled and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) application and composition, and the gas-exchange, respiratory, and fermentative pathways that explain product-specific responses to altered O₂, CO₂, and ethylene environments.• Methodologies and technologies for edible coating production and application on fresh and minimally processed horticultural products, including how coating properties interact with cuticle function, transpiration, gas diffusion, and host–pathogen dynamics.• Effect of harvest, handling, processing, storage, and distribution on quality, nutritional, and nutraceutical parameters, linked to the biosynthetic and degradative pathways of pigments, vitamins, phenolics, and other bioactive compounds.• Factors that affect quality losses and waste along the food chain, with a focus on physiological disorders, senescence programs, and stress responses that determine product vulnerability at each stage.• Microbiological analysis of fresh and minimally processed products, and the effect of antimicrobial agents on microbial load and product safety, including the host defense responses and microbe–tissue interactions that influence decay development and pathogen quiescence.Authors are invited to submit recent research regarding pre-harvest and postharvest factors and technology that affect horticultural product (fresh and processed) physiology, quality and shelf-life.Please note: Descriptive studies that report responses of growth, yield or quality to agronomical treatments will not be considered if they do not progress physiological understanding of these responses. Topic editors: Rosario Paolo Mauro, Giorgia Liguori, Maryna De Wit Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81466/preharvest-and-postharvest-factors-affecting-fruit-and-vegetables-quality-physiology-and-shelf-life---volume-ii