POSTHARVEST PHYSIOLOGY OF SOME VEGETABLE CROPS

Abstract

This study was carried out during 2013 and 2014 years at the Vegetable Experimental Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University and Vegetable Handling Research Department, Horticulture Research Institute, ARC to determine the effects of different passive modified atmosphere packaging applications for prolonging the shelf life of baby pea shoots and baby spinach leaves.

1. First experiment: Baby pea shoots. The quality and shelf life of baby - pea shoot as impacted by four major postharvest factors, i.e. storage temperature, package size, number of perforations/package, and storage period, were evaluated in this study. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) seeds were soaked overnight in a tap water before sowing at mid-October and performed directly using a plant density of 300g of seeds per m2 in the experimental farm of faculty of agriculture, Ain Shams University, Shoubra El-Khima, Kalubia governorate, Egypt. Fresh baby tender pea shoots were harvested manually using sharp knife. Harvesting started after 2 weeks from sowing seeds at the early morning and transported immediately to the organic and sprout production laboratory of Horticulture Dept., Ain Shams University. Shoots with defects such as bruising or discoloration were removed by hand, then the shoots were washed in a tap water to remove any residues then precooled using cooled water for 5 min. to remove field heat. The excess surface water remaining on the leaves of the products was removed by left the shoots for air drying. Baby pea shoots were transported to the vegetable handling laboratory, ARC to be packed and stored under a refrigerated condition using ice boxes and kept overnight at 0-2º.