Browsing by Author "Rossi, Simone"

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    A comprehensive study of factors affecting postharvest disorder development in celery
    (Elsevier, 2020-11-05) Anastasiadi, Maria; Falagán, Natalia; Rossi, Simone; Terry, Leon A
    Fresh-cut celery is an economically important crop, susceptible to postharvest disorders such as browning at cut ends, which can compromise quality and affect freshness perception. The study herein represents the most comprehensive attempt to date to determine the factors that mediate celery postharvest disorders and uncover the physiological and biochemical mechanisms involved. Three main experiments were conducted over two years, covering the early and late Spanish season and the late UK season. The aim of the experiments was to study: a) the effect of seasonal variation and horticultural maturity on shelf-life (20 °C) of fresh-cut celery; b) the effect of postharvest application of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and continuous ethylene supplementation on browning and pithiness development during cold storage (5 °C); and c) the effect of preharvest deficit irrigation on the quality of fresh-cut celery during shelf-life (20 °C). Lesser horticultural maturity increased browning and pithiness with browning severity being positively correlated with chlorogenic acid concentrations in celery cut-ends. Ethylene supplementation accelerated the metabolic activity of celery, leading to early senescence. We found that 1-MCP suppressed respiration rate and delayed browning. Deficit irrigation promoted browning, which coincided with a rapid increase in abscisic acid and its main catabolite phaseic acid during storage. Mild deficit irrigation promoted the increase of chlorogenic acid after 6 d of storage, while severe deficit irrigation did not show this increase. These findings will help growers and retailers standardise industry practices ensuring uniform quality and better shelf-life estimations.
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    Underpinning data "A comprehensive study of factors affecting postharvest disorder development in celery ".
    (Cranfield University, 2020-10-14 12:47) Anastasiadi, Maria; Falagan Sama, Natalia; Rossi, Simone; Terry, Leon
    This dataset contains the data used for statistical analysis in the paper entitled "A comprehensive study of factors affecting postharvest disorder development in celery". Specifically it contains physiological and biochemical changes affecting quality, during shelf-life in celery plants from three different horticultural maturity stages and harvested in different seasons from Spain and the UK. Part of the samples were subjected to different postharvest treatments: 1-MCP application for 24 h followed by cold storage storage under continuous air, continuous ethylene application, and continuous air application (control). In addition, this dataset contain data recording the physiological and biochemical changes occurring during shelf-life in celery plants grown under deficit irrigation and harvested at different horticultural maturity stages. Physiological changes recorded include, respiration rate, objective colour, dry matter changes, browning development and pithiness development. Biochemical data include individual sugars, abscisic acid and its catabolites and chlorogenic acid. Also the data capture spatial differences along the celery plants (apical and basal regions).
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    Understanding the underlying mechanisms and the role that pre-harvest horticultural maturity, agronomic factors and growing conditions have on postharvest discolouration in celery
    (2017-03) Rossi, Simone; Terry, Leon A.
    Celery is a foliage crop which is commonly consumed for its fresh stalks, which are sold on the market in various retail formats. Celery is appreciated by consumers for its freshness, bright green colour, crisp texture, low calorific content and health promoting properties. An important problem affecting this crop after harvest is browning at cut ends, which is a physiological “disorder” manifesting with brown/black stains on cut or damaged surfaces. It manifests during handling and processing of vegetables, which is the phase where most of the postharvest damage occurs. Cut-end browning is believed to be due to the activity of two enzymes; polyphenol-oxidase (PPO) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL). These two enzymes synergistically act to produce melanins, which are the pigments responsible for the black/brown appearance. This is a relevant economic issue as discoloured celery tends to be rejected by retailers, with negative implications for the growers and the UK fresh produce industry. Postharvest browning is not thought to be due to the activity of fungi or bacteria, yet the blackening of surfaces suggests to customers that the product is decaying. Research has been conducted to understand which postharvest factors can influence browning in celery. It has been shown that the use of controlled atmosphere (Gomez and Artes, 2004), heat shock treatments (Loaiza-Velarde et al., 2003) and postharvest application of high intensity light (Zhan et al., 2013) were effective in reducing incidence of the problem. On the other hand, research on pre-harvest factors is still scarce. The aim of the present work was to: 1-) investigate which agronomic factors can affect the severity of postharvest browning in celery; 2-) provide a better understanding of the underlying physiological and biochemical mechanisms involved in this “disorder”. Results showed that agronomic practices can affect postharvest browning in celery. Harvesting at late maturity stages and irrigating below the normal requirements increased postharvest discolouration in this crop. Additionally, the browning mechanism does not seem to be mediated by ethylene in celery. Further biochemical analysis on phenolic compounds and enzymatic activity (PPO and PAL) need to be performed to provide a better elucidation of the browning reaction in this crop.