Evolution of Compounds and Characteristics of Crops during Ripening and after Harvest

Abstract

Consumers are increasingly asking for products with better organoleptic character- istics, flavors, aromas, colors, attractiveness, etc. Farmers must estimate, with maximum precision, the optimum harvest time, so that their product reaches the consumer or industry in the best condition, thus providing a product with the highest quality. In addition, once the fruit or food has been collected, it must be ensured that the quality, organoleptic and food safety characteristics remain in within the optimal range until it reaches the consumer or the food processing plant. With respect to the optimal ripening time of the fruit, in recent decades there have been hundreds of works that study the optimum time for fruit harvesting based on its compositional and organoleptic characteristics. In addition to genetic factors, there are many other factors (both environmental conditions and agronomic factors) involved in the development of fruits and plants regarding the optimum stage of ripening or harvesting depending on the specific characteristics to be achieved. Among these factors, the availabil- ity of water, the growth temperature, the type of soil, the fertilization of the soil, the irradiance, irrigation, the age of the plant, among many others, stand out. With all these factors, farmers have multiple tools to modulate the growth of their crops and harvest them under optimal conditions according to the desired characteristics. Once the crop has been collected in the best conditions, it must be ensured that these characteristics are preserved in the best possible way until it reaches the consumer or the crop is processed. There are many factors that can affect the stability of crops once harvested, such as time after harvest, storage temperature, storage humidity, thermal drying treatments, amount of oxygen, microbiological contamination, addition of chemical agents, postharvest treatments (washing, cutting, and waxing), etc. The instability that can affect the harvested crops can produce a loss of organoleptic characteristics, the degradation or loss of compounds with biological interest, such as antioxidant compounds, or the complete degradation of the product. In any case, farmers have a large number of tools and scientific knowledge at their disposal in order to minimize these effects.