Strategic Post-Harvest Management and Value Enhancement for Horticultural Crops: A Comprehensive Review
Roshan, R.K.
ICAR KVK Tamenglong, ICAR RC for NEH Region, Manipur Centre, India.
Pande, K.K.
KVK ICAR VPKAS, Kafligair, Bageshwar, Uttarakhand, India.
Kumari, S. *
Department of Horticulture, SAS, Medziphema, Nagaland University, India.
Devi, A.A.
ICAR, KVK, Chandel, Manipur, India.
Pritam
Department of Plant Pathology, SAS, Medziphema, Nagaland University, India.
Shukla, Y.K.
Soil Science, KVK, RVSKVK, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Hemakiran, A.S.
Department of Fruit Science, RLBCAU, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Meena, K.K
Department of Horticulture, CCSHAU, Hisar, Haryana, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Effective post-harvest management is essential for maintaining the quality and prolonging the shelf life of horticultural crops, ensuring they reach consumers in prime condition. This review outlines the critical components of post-harvest management for horticultural crops, highlighting the importance of appropriate handling, storage, and processing methods to preserve nutritional content, texture, flavor, and visual appeal. It explores various factors contributing to post-harvest losses, including physiological, pathological, mechanical influences, as well as environmental conditions like temperature, humidity and ethylene exposure. The review evaluates pre-harvest and post-harvest treatments and technologies aimed at reducing losses, such as harvesting at optimal maturity, temperature regulation, CAS, MAP and the application of post-harvest chemicals and natural compounds. This review emphasizes strategies to improve the storability of fresh vegetables, including value addition through drying technologies, temperature and storage atmosphere management, and the use of anti-senescent compounds like salicylic acid, nitric oxide, 1-methylcyclopropene, and methyl jasmonate etc.
Keywords: Post-harvest management, horticultural crops, value enhancement, shelf-life extension and controlled atmosphere storage