postharvest practices of peppers in israel

Serie Documentos

Postharvest practices of peppers in Israel

15 years of research

Elazar Fallik

[email protected]

http://www.publicaciones.poscosecha.com http://www.postharvest.biz

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Serie Documentos Pepper Postharvest



Elazar Fallik

ARO-The Volcani Center,

Department of Postharvest Science of Fresh Produce,

Index Summary

Introduction

Harvest practices

Transporting harvested produce from field to packinghouse

Packinghouse operation

Transit station and transport to the ports while maintaining cold chain

Future trends

References

Commercial Information GREEFA 15

OxyWater Bio, de CEBE, 16

Centro Estudios de Biodiversidad

http://www.publicaciones.poscosecha.com

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Summary

Sweet pepper is the second largest export commodity in Israel, with

approx. 140,000 tons of fruits from several types (bell, elongated and chili)

marketed mostly in Europe, some being sold in North America. This

necessitates the practice of excellent pre- and postharvest techniques which

will maintain fruit quality for more than 2 weeks. We have conducted both

basic and applied research during the last 15 years to develop and improve

postharvest practices for Israeli-grown peppers.

Fruit should be harvested during the cool hours of the day using

sharp and clean knives or clippers, with or without the calyx (stem), at 80-

85% final color. The harvesting team must wear gloves. Fruits are placed

inside prewashed plastic crates lined with foam padding to prevent

mechanical injury to the produce. Harvesting crates must not be overfilled

in order to prevent crushing when crates are stacked one on another.

Harvest crates must not come into contact with soil. Harvested produce

must be transported on harvest carts as soon as possible to the pack house

while the load is protected from direct sun or rain with shade net or water-

proof screen.

Harvested produce must be kept cool, shaded and well ventilated.

The washing, grading and sorting machines must be thoroughly cleaned

daily before or after work. Fruit are washed in hot water (55°C)

supplemented with a disinfectant compound for about 15 s as they roll over

spinning brushes (HWRB machine, “Hot Water Rinsing and Brushing”

machine). After the hot water wash, fruit are dried by forced-air dryers

prior to electronic sorting and grading. Only high quality fruit are packed in

bulk in a corrugated new carton, plastic crates, or perforated plastic bags or

sleeves, depending upon the export market. Cartons are palletized and as

soon as possible should be transferred to the precooling transit station at

7°C and 93-95% RH for 12 to 24 hours, until they are brought to the export

terminals in a refrigerated (7°C) disinfected truck or container. At the port,


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the fruit quality is inspected again by government agricultural

agents and the pallets are kept at 7°C and 95% RH until they are loaded on

a refrigerated ship or containers at 7°C and 93-95% RH for export.

In order to maintain fruit quality during the whole year, especially

during the hot Israeli summer, special pre-harvest practices have also been

developed. Growing peppers under colored shade nets, especially in shades

of pearl and yellow, maintains better fruit quality after harvest. Those nets

also reduced insect infestations and increased yield. The presence in Israel

of the Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) prevents export of peppers to

quarantine countries like Japan. Exposure to cold air is a well known

treatment for killing Medfly on fresh produce. However, keeping pepper

fruit at temperatures below 7°C for several days can cause severe chilling

injury (CI). We have found that a combination of HWRB and Xtend®

plastic bag packaging can significantly reduce incidence of CI after 3

weeks storage at 1.5°C. This treatment also killed Medfly eggs and larvae

in infected fruit.


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Introduct ion

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important fruit crop, widely

cultivated throughout the world, and available in a range of colors such as

green, yellow, red, orange, white, black and purple (Frank et al., 2001).

Bell pepper is highly nutritious, as it contains large amounts of

polyphenols, antioxidants and vitamin C, components which are important

in the diet (Marin et al., 2004; Deepa et al., 2007). For this reason, bell

peppers are one of the most important export fruit worldwide, especially

from Israel and other Mediterranean countries. In 2013, approximately

140,000 tons of peppers of various colors and types were exported from

Israel to Europe and the United States, mostly by sea-freight, between

November and April, which is winter and beginning of spring in the

northern hemisphere. The main varieties that are exported are red (80%),

yellow (15%) and orange (5%). Most of the fruits are packed in bulk, inside

cartons that hold 5 to 8 kg. The peppers are grown mainly in plastic

houses or screen houses in the Arava and Jordan valleys, which are

desert regions in the southern and eastern parts of Israel.

Bell pepper fruits are stored for about 2 weeks at temperatures

between 7 and 10°C, depending upon the variety and stage of maturity

(Paull, 1990). These temperatures do not completely inhibit decay

development, which is mainly caused by Botrytis cinerea in plastic houses

and Alternaria alternata in shade nets (Ceponis et al., 1987). In addition to

decay, rapid water loss due to storage affects pepper firmness and

crispness (Maalekuu et al., 2004). These two factors; decay and water

loss, are the most important parameters for the consumer’s acceptance to

purchase the fruit in the markets. For these reasons and others, pepper is

considered one of the most important domestic and export fruit crops

worldwide, especially from Mexico, Holland and Spain.

The aim of this paper is to summarize the postharvest practices

know-how that have developed and are currently used in Israel, from the

moment the fruit is harvested until it is exported abroad. In addition, we will

summarize the latest research that is conducted to expand export and to

develop new markets for Israeli peppers.


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Harvest pract ices

The fruit are picked during the cool hours of the day (not later than

11:30 am). The harvesting team must wear latex or fabric gloves to

prevent any fruit bruises by the picker. Gloves are washed occasionally for

phytosanitation, or when they are dirty. Harvesting is performed with sharp

and disinfected shears or knives at 80-85% color (Pictures 1 and 2), with

or without calyx (Picture 3). These picking tools must be disinfected daily

and must be sharpened once a week. Fruits are placed very gently inside

clean plastic crates lined with foam padding to prevent mechanical injury

to the produce during handling and transportation from the plastic houses

to the pack houses, particularly if roads are unpaved. Harvesting crates

must not be overfilled. This prevents crushing when crates are stacked

one on another. The crates must not come into contact with soil (Picture

1), which may have pathogens. They must be placed on harvest carts

which facilitate handling along the paths in the plastic house (Picture 1).

Transport ing harvested produce from field to packinghouse

Harvested produce must be transported as soon as possible to the

pack house. High-speed travel on unpaved roads must be avoided to

avoid physical injury to the peppers. During transport, the harvested

peppers are covered with a ventilated “thermal blanket” to protect them

from sun, rain, dust or insect infestation.

Packinghouse operat ion

The pack house is maintained at all times in a clean and orderly

manner. Desert coolers or air-conditioning, as well as good lighting, must

be sufficient to afford packhouse workers a comfortable environment in

which they can identify all defects in the produce. Harvested produce must

be kept cool, shaded and well ventilated. The washing, grading and

sorting machines must be thoroughly cleaned before and after work each

day.


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Fruit are dumped very carefully on a conveyor that is cleaned

frequently. The conveyor brings the fruit at a constant speed into the hot

rinsing and brushing machine (Picture 3). Fruit are first washed with tap,

non-recycled water over brushes, after which they continue into a hot

water wash at 54-55°C for about 15 s as they roll over spinning brushes

(HWRB machine) (for more details see Fallik et al., 1999, or Fallik, 2004).

After the hot water wash, fruit are dried by forced-air dryers prior to

electronic/camera sorting and grading machine. Only high quality fruit

(Class I, or Premium) that are uniform in size, color and shape are packed

in a corrugated new carton of 5 or 8 kg. Depending upon final markets, 3

fruits can be packed inside a macro-perforated flow-pack sleeve with one

color or 3 different colors (red, yellow, green or orange), or 6 fruits (family

pack) inside a macro-perforated LDPE bag. Each carton is labelled with

the farmer’s name or pack house name, fruit color and size, and date of

harvest. Cartons (110 cartons on a sea pallet) are stacked on pallets that

are kept for a very short time in a cool, well-ventilated and shaded area

prior to transport to the precooling transit station. It is preferable to keep

the pallets inside a refrigerated room at 7°C and 95% RH.

Transit stat ion and transport to the ports w hile maintaining

cold chain

In the transit station (a central cooling facility), palletized produce is

inspected by quality specialists from the Plant Protection and Inspection

Services (PPIS) in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Pallets are placed inside a refrigerated room at 7°C for about 12 to 24 h

and 95% RH, prior to shipment. Pallets then are loaded onto a pre-cooled

refrigerated truck, at 7°C, and brought to the sea or airport terminal. In

recent years, pepper fruit are exported in refrigerated pre-disinfected and

cooled containers at 7°C. At the port, fruit are inspected again by the PPIS

and pallets are kept at 7°C and 95% RH until the next available

refrigerated ship loads the pallets for shipment abroad at 7°C and 95%

RH. An average journey from Israel to Europe takes 10 to 18 days (sea

transport + refrigerated trucks from the port in Europe to western and

northern markets), while to the USA it takes up to 4 weeks. During the

journey from the transit station to the wholesale markets in Europe or

USA, fruit is kept constantly at 7°C and RH of 90% to 95% in order to

maintain the cooling chain, thus ensuring pepper quality. http://www.publicaciones.poscosecha.com

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Future trends

In order to extend the export season from the main growing season

of winter and early spring through the summer and early fall, while

maintaining high quality, shade netting is required to protect pepper plants

from excessive solar radiation (Shahak, 2008). Growing pepper under

pearl-colored shade net was found to be more effective in maintaining

postharvest fruit quality than the traditional black netting, especially at late-

season harvests. The improvement in storage quality can be related to

alteration of antioxidant levels induced by the pre-harvest manipulation of

the light environment (Goren et al., 2009; Kong et al., 2013).

Various pepper-importing countries, such as the USA or Japan,

demand quarantine security protocols to diminish the risk of accidental

introduction of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) Ceratitis capitata

(Wiedemann) on imported fruit. Effective quarantine treatment protocols

must combine complete insect kill, minimal damage to plant tissue, and

reasonable cost. We found that all tested stages (egg, L1, L2 and L3 larval

instar) were totally killed by simulated in-transit cold quarantine treatments

at 1.5°C or 4°C for 21 days, which represents an average ship-journey

from Israel to distant markets such as Japan or the USA. These two cold

quarantine treatments, especially the one at 1.5°C, caused very little

chilling impairment to the Xtend®-packed pepper fruit quality, i.e. the

degree and incidence of chilling injury complied with a commercially

reasonable level of overall quality. These findings provide the basis for the

future establishment of an export quarantine treatment protocol for bell

pepper fruit. It should be based on in-transit storage at temperatures of

1.5°C for 21 days to eliminate medfly eggs and larval instars from pepper

fruit, while maintaining commercial quality of the fruit (Fallik et al., 2012).


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Acknowledgement

Contribution from the Agricul¬tural Research Organization, the Volcani

Center, Bet Dagan, Israel, No. 706/14.

References

Ceponis, M. J., Cappellini, R. A., Lightner, R. A. (1987). Disorders in fresh pepper shipments to the New York market. Plant Dis. 71, 380-382.

Deepa, N., Charanjit, K., Binoy, G., Singh, B., Kapoor, H.C. (2007). Antioxidant constituents in some sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) genotypes during maturity. Leben. Wissen. Technol. 40, 121–129.

Fallik, E. (2004). Pre-storage hot water treatments (immersion, rinsing and brushing). Postharvest Biol. Technol. 32, 125-134.

Fallik, E., Grinberg, S., Alkalai, S., Yekutieli, O., Wiseblum, A., Regev, R., Beres, H., Bar Lev, E. (1999). A unique rapid hot water treatment to improve storage quality of sweet pepper. Postharvest Biol. Technol. 15, 25-32.

Fallik, E., Perzelan, Y., Alkalai-Tuvia, S., Nemny-Lavy, E., Nestel, D. (2012). Development of cold quarantine protocols to arrest the development of the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruit after harvest. Postharvest Biol. Technol. 70, 7–12.

Frank, C. A., Nelson, R. G., Simonne, E. H., Behe, B. K., Simonne, A. H. (2001). Consumer preferences for color , price , and vitamin C content of bell peppers. HortSci. 36, 795–800.

Goren, A., Alkalia-Tuvia, S., Perzelan, Y., Aharon, Z., Fallik, E. (2011). Photoselective shade nets reduce postharvest decay development in pepper fruits. Adv. Hortic. Sci. 25, 26-31.

Kong, Y., Avraham, L., Perzelan, Y., Alkalai-Tuvia, S., Ratner, K., Shahak, Y., Fallik, E. (2013). Pearl netting affects postharvest quality fruit in ‘Vergasa’ sweet pepper via light environment manipulation. Sci. Hortic. 150, 290-298.

Maalekuu, K., Elkind, Y., Tuvia-Alkalai, S., Shalom, Y., Fallik, E. (2004). The influence of harvest season and cultivar type on several quality traits and quality stability of three commercial sweet bell peppers during the harvest period. Adv. Hortic. Sci. 18, 21–25.

Marín, A., Ferreres, F., Tomás-Barberán, F.A., Gil, M.I. (2004). Characterization and quantitation of antioxidant constituents of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). J. Agric. Food Chem. 52, 3861–3869.

Paull, R.E. (1990). Chilling injury of crops of tropical and subtropical origin. In: Wang, C.Y. (Ed.), Chilling Injury of Horticultural Crops. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp.17–36.

Shahak, Y. (2008). Photo-selective netting for improved performance of horticultural crops. A review of ornamental and vegetable studies carried out in Israel. Acta Hortic. 770, 161-168.


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0251658240

Picture 1: Harvest practices: using a clean clipper (in circle), wearing gloves, using cushioned clean plastic crates that are placed on a cart. Placing crates on the

ground is forbidden.

Forbidden


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Picture 2: The recommended maturity stage for harvesting bell sweet pepper (80-85% in color).

80 - 85%


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Picture 3: Harvesting at the abscission zone with or without calyx


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0251681792

Picture 4: The hot water rinsing and brushing (HWRB) process: Upper row: Left picture, Fruit after harvest and before cleaning > Middle picture, Conveyor

that brings the fruit into the HWRB > Right picture, HWRB unit; > Middle row: Left, Non-recycled tap water wash over brushes > Right, Recycled hot water

wash over brushes (54-55°C for 15 s) > Last row: Right, Drying tunnel > Middle, Sorting and grading line > Left, Packed fruit (from

Fallik, 2004).


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Sorted on size, colour, weight and external quality

Do you want to know more about our sorting and packing possibilities? Visit our website on greefa.com.




Elazar Fallik

e-mail: [email protected]

ARO-The Volcani Center,

Department of Postharvest Science of Fresh Produce,

P.O.Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel


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Tel +34 – 649 485 677

[email protected]

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postharvest practices of peppers in israel

Documents

fruit quality

postharvest techniques

harvested produce

harvest crates

high quality fruit

prewashed plastic crates

hot water rinsing

hot water wash