STAFF REPORT IBD: The Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) is developing techniques of pre and post-harvest treatments of food grade chemicals to improve quality and shelf-life of different fruits, including Peach.
“The main objective of this project is to optimize the different concentrations of food grade chemicals for improving the fruit quality and minimizing the risk of residues,” said Spokesperson PSF, Rehana Batool, while talking to media.
She said that it will help to investigate the possible effects of pre harvest application of food grade chemicals on post harvest fruit quality.
Peach is the second most important stone fruit crop of Pakistan. Stone fruits are characteristically soft-fleshed and highly perishable and they have a limited market life potential.
Pre harvest factors often interact in complex ways that depend on specific cultivar characteristics and growth or development stage sensitivities.
After harvest, rapid ripening in peach fruits is responsible for short shelf life and represents a serious constraint for efficient handling and transportation for local as well as for distant markets.
Rehana said that although fruit quality can only be maintained, not improved, after harvest, little emphasis has been given on the influence of pre harvest factors that determine the ultimate post harvest quality of fruits.