Post harvest management of vegetable crops: Introduction

Horticulture is backbone of our country and greater population about 60-65% is directly or indirectly dependent on it. Horticulure produce also earns good in export earnings for the country. Unfortunately about 25-30% of horticulture produce gets wasted due to lack of post-harvest management of vegetables which resulted in huge loss of crores of rupees. A complex series of metabolic adjustments occur in vegetables after harvest which are influenced by dislocation of supply of nutrients, water and growth regulators from the parent plant to the harvested vegetables. The overall process leads to postharvest deterioration of the produce. However, the losses can be reduced with adoption of postharvest management and use of processing technology of vegetable crops.