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Intranet Postharvest Biology and Technology
The postharvest biology and technology 
program
addresses many aspects of the physiology, biochemistry, and molecular
biology of ripening, senescence, and deterioration as well as the handling,
transportation, and packaging methodologies used to maintain fruit and
vegetable quality following harvest. Specific areas of interest include:
beneficial and detrimental effects of ethylene, gene expression in crops
adversely affected by ethylene in the storage environment, the use of
ethylene antagonists to prolong quality during storage, fruit softening,
stress physiology (chilling injury, mechanical injury, low- or high-temperature
exposure), the physiological effects on fruits and vegetables of insect
quarantine methods, modified-atmosphere packaging, controlled-atmosphere
storage and transport, fresh-cut processing and the physiology of fresh-cut
products, and postharvest food safety issues. Florida’s climatic
diversity provides opportunities for research with temperate, subtropical,
and tropical crops on a nearly year-round basis. Faculty within the Horticultural
Sciences department, at locations throughout the state, and in the Food
Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural and Biological Engineering,
Food and Resource Economics, and Plant Pathology departments are closely
involved in a number of collaborative projects directed toward postharvest
issues.
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