Exercise No. 2 Postharvest Handling & Postharvest of Fruit

KALINGA STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Agriculture
Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga
Laboratory Exercise
Group No. _________ Lab. activity no. 2

Name:
________________________________________________________________________
HARVESTING AND POST-HARVEST HANDLING OF FRUITS AND
VEGETABLES
Einführung
Post handling refers to the different processes of ensuring the quality and shelf life of
fruits and vegetables after harvest prior to sale or use without changing their basic
appearance. It is different from food processing because in food processing the commodity
(fruits and vegetables) is altered. Post-harvest handling includes processes like cleaning,
trimming, sorting, fumigating, pasking, curing, packaging, and transporting, and storing of
which do not alter the appearance of the commodity.
Proper post-harvest handling is important to reduce the big losses of fruits and
vegetables. In south east Asia, the estimated loss of fruits and vegetables after harvest is 5-
50% while in the Philippines, losses range from 28-42%. Such considerable losses can be
minimized by proper post-harvest handling. In addition, improvement in post harvest
handling will reduce losses and less costly than an improvement in production practices to
bring about an equivalent amount of yield increase.
Fruits and vegetables are perishable commodities and have to be handled properly
from the field to the final consumer. To maintain the quality and to prolong the usefulness of
the product, proper handling and storage is essential.
Each fruit and vegetables has its own requirement for optimum temperature and
relative humidity. Most tropical fruits and vegetables store best at 12 0C. At higher
temperature, they deteriorate fast due to rapid respiration and high transpiration while at low
temperature, they exhibit chilling injury. On the other hand, almost all fruits and vegetables
except for the root and bulb crops kept at high relative humidity (85-95%). They lose
moisture fast at low RH so they are best kept at low temperature and high RH (80%).
Objectives:
At the end of the experiment, the students should be able to:
a. Describe the right stage of harvesting fruits and vegetables

b. Discuss the different methods of reducing post production losses of some common
fruits and vegetable.
c. Know and discuss factors affecting post harvest handling like storage, temperature,
and relative humidity.
Procedure:
The students will conduct experiment on the following;
Experiment A. Storage duration of vegetable crops producing root, tubers, bulbs, and
fruits vegetable as compared to leafy vegetable.
The students will be formed into groups and require to bring to the class the following
vegetables. It is a must that the vegetables are fresh and weighs one kilogram for every kind
of vegetable.
1. Leafy vegetables such as petchay, sweet potato leaves, and mustard.

2. Fruit vegetables such as bean pods and, ladys finger (okra), and
3. Root, tubers, and bulb crops such as radish, potato, and onion, respectively.
Every kind of vegetable will be placed in plastic container without any cover and
stored at ordinary room condition for five days.
Data to be gathered:
1. Initial weight (before storage) and final weight

2. Appearance before storage
3. Appearance after five days
4. Percent weight loss
Percent weight loss is computed using the equation below:
Final weight
Percent weight loss = ------------------------ X 100
Initial weight
Experiment B. Effect of modified atmosphere container to help keep leafy vegetables
fresh.
A fresh leafy vegetable (petchay, tomato and sweet potato) will be placed in
polyethylene plastic bags (the size is enough to accommodate the samples) with
different number of holes which will serve as the treatment. The bags will be closed
using a stable wire or trying it with tuber band. The weight of sample per bag will be
from 0.5 to 1.0 kg. The size of the hole is 0.8 cm. The treatment will be replicated
three times.
The treatments are as follows:
T1 – Control (no holes)

T2 – 10 holes
T3 – 20 holes
T4 – 30 holes
Data to be gathered:
1. Initial weight (before storage) and final weight (after 1 week)
2. Appearance before storage
3. Appearance after five days
4. Percent weight loss. Composition is the same as in A.
Results and Discussion
Discuss the data gathered in Experiment A and B. In experiment A the results will be
illustrated in graph and interpreted using the analysis of variance at 1% and 5% level of
significant.
Use the table below for the initial weight and weight loss
Table 1a. Initial weight of vegetables (g).

Treatment Replication Total Mean
I II III
T1 – No holes
(control)
T2 – 10 holes
T3- 20 holes
T4 – 30 holes
Grand Total
Grand Mean
Table 1b. Analysis of variance on the initial weight of vegetables (g).

Source of Degree of Source of Mean of Computed-F Tabulated - F
variance freedom variance Square
5% 1%
Replication
Treatment
Error
Total
Results: CV =
Table 2a. Percent weight loss of vegetables after five days (%).
Treatment Replication Total Mean
I II III
T1 – No holes (control)
T2 – 10 holes
T3- 20 holes
T4 – 30 holes
Grand Total
Grand Mean
Table 2b. Analysis of variance on the percent weight loss of vegetables after five days (%).
Source of Degree of Source of Mean of Computed-F Tabulated - F
variance freedom variance Square
5% 1%
Replication
Treatment
Error
Total
Rsults: CV = LSD 0.5%=

0.1%=
Question to answer:
1. What is transpiration?
________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______
2. What is respiration?
________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______
3. How are the above mentioned process related to post harvest handling?
________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________
4. What is relative humidity?

___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______
5. Why do you have to store vegetables at high relative humidity?

______________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________
6. Why do sweet potato, white potato, onions, carrots, keep longer than tomatoes, and leafy
vegetables?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
7. Describe at what conditions should you store your vegetables?

_______________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________
8. How can high relative humidity be increased to keep the vegetables fresh?
_____________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________
9. What group of vegetables can be stored longer? Why?

_____________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
________
Reference
Laboratory Manual CRSCI-105 (Priciples of Horticultural Crop Production) for the Bachelor
of Science in Agriculture, Central Luzon State university (CLSU). pp 87-96.
Documentation
No hole
10 hole
20 hole
30 hole

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KALINGA STATE UNIVERSITY

Group No. _________ Lab. activity no. 2

At the end of the experiment, the students should be able to:

a. Describe the right stage of harvesting fruits and vegetables

The students will conduct experiment on the following;

1. Leafy vegetables such as petchay, sweet potato leaves, and mustard.

1. Initial weight (before storage) and final weight

The treatments are as follows:

T1 – Control (no holes)

Results and Discussion

Table 1a. Initial weight of vegetables (g).

Table 1b. Analysis of variance on the initial weight of vegetables (g).

Rsults: CV = LSD 0.5%=

4. What is relative humidity?

5. Why do you have to store vegetables at high relative humidity?

7. Describe at what conditions should you store your vegetables?

9. What group of vegetables can be stored longer? Why?

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