Relationship between Damages and other Postharvest Stress Factors Affecting Quality of Fruit and Vegetables

Abstract

Stress is the main concern hindering the maintenance of postharvest quality of fruit and vegetables. From production to consumption, fruit and vegetables are subjected to various handling activities in which some of these activities result in damaging commodity which make them susceptible to stress through entire post-harvest period. Stresses mostly come from biological and environmental factors such as harvest conditions, temperature, relative humidity, and gas composition of storage environment, as well as metabolic activities and microbial infections which all correlate with damages for one way or another and bring about quality loss and shortening of commodity’s shelf life.