Innovations in Storage Technology and Postharvest Science

Novel or improved postharvest technologies have been developed in the last 10-15 years. Some of them (e.g., 1-MCP) are already being used in several storage facilities and commercial applications, others (e.g., DCA) are just targeted for specific horticultural crops, some others are still at a preliminary or pilot-scale level and currently under evaluation. The integration of different treatments and the optimization of already existing protocols, a trend observed for the storage of several commodities, need to be assessed and validated through the combination of basic and applied research with the aim of elucidating metabolic processes and regulatory mechanisms affected by the imposed postharvest conditions. The development of “omics” technologies and the increasing number of horticultural crop genomes that have been sequenced and annotated are facilitating this new approach in postharvest science. Information and descriptions of storage-related processes at the level of transcripts, proteins and metabolites are starting to be available concerning the responses to low temperature storage including the different aptitudes to develop chilling injuries. Similarly, the biological basis of the effects of hypoxic conditions on the maintenance of quality and the onset of the related physiological disorders (superficial scald, browning) are going to be elucidated by means of integrated and systemic approaches.