The Commercial Storage of Fruits, Vegetables, and Florist and Nursery Stocks
Edited by Kenneth C. Gross, Chien Yi Wang, and Mikal Saltveit
Agriculture Handbook 66 (AH-66) represents a complete revision and major expansion of the 1986 edition. It has been reorganized and now includes 17 Chapters and 138 Commodity Summaries written by nearly a hundred experts in plant science and postharvest technology. This version, like the previous editions of AH66 in 1954, 1968, 1977, and 1986, presents summaries of current storage requirements of fresh fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, and other horticultural crops. However, this highly expanded version also includes information on quality characteristics, maturity indices, grading, packaging, precooling, retail display, chilling sensitivity, ethylene production and sensitivity, respiration rates, physiological disorders, postharvest pathology, quarantine issues, and suitability as fresh-cut product. A large number of fruits and vegetables were added, as well as sections on food safety, nutritional quality, texture, and fresh-cut produce. The purpose of storing plant material is to lengthen the time it can be consumed or utilized. In doing so, it is critical to provide an environment that minimizes deterioration, maintains microbial safety, and retains other quality attributes. AH-66 provides guidelines and other important information for storing and handling horticultural commodities to accomplish this.
792 Pages
Publication Details
- Published: 2016
- Publisher: USDA Agricultural Research Service