III. The physiological and cell-biological basis for post-harvest deterioration of cut flowers and vegetables and the dependence of these processes on the production environment
For many horticultural products the event of harvest marks the beginning of a process of change that in many cases results in a loss of value. The deterioration of cut-flowers is a perfect example of this, but similar changes can be seen in vegetables, fruits and other products. This group has a distinguished history in understanding the basis of post-harvest deterioration and recently we have been fortunate in obtaining an externally funded extraordinary Professor, who will focus on different quality aspects (shelf life, taste, flavor, health promoting compounds) of fruit and vegetables and how quality is influenced by genotype, cultivation practices and the post-harvest environment.
Research into quality deterioration is a combination of pathology and physiology:
* First, it is necessary to identify which processes contribute to the overall judgment that quality has been lost.
* Second, the processes themselves need to be unraveled in order to understand them and develop countermeasures.
Our cut-flower research illustrates this very well. A major cause of post-deterioration in cut-flowers is a negative water balance as result of restrictions in water movement through the stem of the flower and/or impairment of stomatal closure in the leaves. We study the basic mechanisms of both phenomena as well in cut flowers as in Arabidopsis.
Updated 05Mar10 by MJB
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