Design of post harvest equipments for dryland crops

Abstract

Equipment used in the post-harvest handling of produce varies widely according to the specific crop, its intended use, the nature of any particular enterprise and the point that produce has reached within the post-harvest handling system. This article overviews the wide variety of post-harvest equipment used in steps from harvest to consumption. These steps include handling, treatment, storage and transport operations. Equipment used with perishable versus durable crops is discussed separately throughout much of this review because their physicochemical characteristics are inherently very different. The article concludes in considering a range of policy and future direction issues that are likely to influence, in the context of social, environmental and technological imperatives, the ongoing development and use of post-harvest equipment.