Post harvest engineering of horticultural crops

Importance of processing of fruits and vegetables, spices, condiments and flowers

Horticultural crops includes fruits, vegetables, plantation crops, spices, flowers etc. India has witnessed increase in horticulture production over the last few years. Fruits and vegetables are considered important in human diets for healthy lifestyle due to their significant nutritional contribution to human well-being.

Different horticultural crops are being grown in different states according to suitable climatic conditions and the area and production is increasing with the advent of new technologies in horticulture field. During the peak session, fruits/vegetables are available in surplus quantity and often lead to post harvest wastage if not handled/stored properly. 

Fruits and vegetables
Production of fruits and vegetables in recent years (Source:http://agricoop.nic.in/)
Production share of various horticultural crops (Source:http://agricoop.nic.in/)

The detailed statistics about horticultural crops is available at below link. http://agricoop.nic.in/sites/default/files/Horticulture%20Statistics%20at%20a%20Glance-2018.pdf

The post-harvest management activities that play a crucial role in efficient supply of fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices etc to consumer are harvesting at proper maturity, handling and transportation, cleaning, washing, disinfection, packing, storage etc. Knowledge of various unit operations in post harvest management of horticultural crops is thus necessary to persons who deals in this field.

The term ‘Post-harvest engineering and technology’ explains the engineering principles that are used for making any equipment/machine used for post-harvest operation. The knowledge of “Science, Engineering and Technology” is applied in the subject of farm produce after its harvesting. The main aim is to protect produce, processing, packaging, storage, distribution etc.

The main aim of this course is to make students acquainted with the post harvest practices to be followed in horticultural crops. Different unit operations in fruits/vegetables processing and equipment related to this is also covered under this course.

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