Prof. Francisco Artés is an agricultural engineer (UPV, Valencia) and refrigeration engineer (IFFI, Paris). He is Director of the Plant Biotechnology Institute (since 2001), Professor of Food Technology and Head of the Postharvest and Refrigeration Group (PRG) at the Department of Food Engineering of the Technical University of Cartagena. He was Director (1992-1994) of CEBAS (Centre for Applied...

Plant-specific WRKY transcription factors (TFs) have been implicated to function as regulators of leaf senescence, but their association with postharvest leaf senescence of economically important leafy vegetables, is poorly understood. In this work, the characterization of a Group IIe WRKY TF, BrWRKY65, from Chinese flowering cabbage (Brassica rapa var. parachinensis) is reported. The expressio...

The effect of biofumigation, through slow-release diffusors, of thyme and savory essential oils (EO), was evaluated on the control of postharvest diseases and quality of peaches and nectarines. EO fumigation was effective in controlling postharvest rots. Naturally contaminated peaches and nectarines were exposed to EO vapors for 28 days at 0 °C in sealed storage cabinets and then exposed at 20 ...

Pitaya (Hylocereus undatus) is a non-climacteric fruit that reaches its best eating quality when harvested ripe, decreasing thereafter during storage (CHIEN et al., 2007). As a new crop, there have been limited studies focused on extending the postharvest quality of pitaya fruit. The main postharvest problems of pitaya fruit are mechanical injury, chilling injury, decay, and water loss (NERD et...

AIMS To investigate the effect of antagonistic yeast Pichia membranaefaciens on alleviating oxidative stress caused by Penicillium expansum in sweet cherry fruit. METHODS AND RESULTS At two maturity stages of sweet cherry fruit, P. membranaefaciens restrained blue mold rot caused by Pe. expansum. There was not any decay in yeast-treated fruit even at 5 days after inoculation. Carbonylated pro...

Crown rot caused by fungal pathogen is the most prevalent postharvest disease in banana fruit that results significant economic losses during transportation, storage, and ripening period. Antifungal effects of ultraviolet C (UVC) irradiation at doses varied from 0.01 to 0.30 kJ m-2 were investigated in controlling postharvest crown rot disease, maintenance of fruit quality, and the effects on a...

The postharvest quality of tomato fruit harvested at the pink stage and dipped in 3 different concentrations of CaCl2 for different dip times (30, 20 and 10 minutes) were studied. Tomato fruits dipped in 6% CaCl2 for 30 and 20 minutes retained significantly (P < 0.05) higher level of firmness, titrable acidity and vitamin C than fruits dipped in 2% CaCl2 and the control. The calcium chloride tr...

Postharvest senescence and associated stresses limit the shelf life and nutritional value of vegetables. Improved understanding of these processes creates options for better management. After harvest, controlled exposure to abiotic stresses and/or exogenous phytohormones can enhance nutraceutical, organoleptic and commercial longevity traits. With leaf senescence, abscisic acid (ABA) contents p...

The postharvest quality and longevity of cut flowers is influenced by several factors, with the development stage being one determining aspects. determination harvest point variable must be carried out depending on physiology flower proximity consumer market. In this sense, objective was to determine harvesting ideal stem length for ‘Sol Vermelho’ ornamental sunflower. experimental design adopt...

Green mature olive fruit (Olea europaea L.) of six cvs. (Basheqi, Sorani, Khilkhali, Manzanillo, Chemlali, Frantoio) were harvested from trees grown in Zakho Nursery, District, Dohuk governorate, Kurdistan region/Iraq. Samples each cultivar placed plastic bags and stored at 6˚C 85-90%RH for three different periods (2, 3 4) months to evaluate their postharvest physiology quality changes. Estimat...