The art of post-harvest management – Parts 1 and 2

March and August 2013 | Stephen Tancred, Orchard Services | Australian Fruitgrower articles

Stephen Tancred’s two-part series explains post-harvest management as the continued management of fruit physiology after harvest. The central objective is to slow respiration and ripening while maintaining eating quality and reducing storage disorders and rots so that fruit reaches consumers in good condition.

Part 1 covers the main tools available to cold-store managers, including temperature, oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethylene management. It explains the shift from rapid pull-down cooling toward staged cooling for suitable fruit and notes that slower cooling and warmer storage can reduce moisture loss and energy use, although the approach must suit variety, maturity and ethylene-management strategy.

Part 2 revisits these principles and focuses on common storage disorders such as superficial scald, water core, bitter pit and internal browning. Tancred emphasises that many storage problems begin in the orchard, so harvest maturity, calcium status, crop load, vigour and cooling strategy must be managed as one connected quality system.