Conventional and Biotechnological Approaches for Enhancing Shelf-life of Horticultural Crops

Abstract

Background: Due to its highly perishable nature and less shelf life, postharvest losses of fruits result in a high gap between production and availability. Various plant traits which need to be genetically modified for higher shelf life include lowered respiration and ethylene production, less sensitivity to ethylene, lowering ripening rates, reduced browning, decreased chilling sensitivity and increased postharvest disease resistance. Methods: The importance of understanding the biochemical process of softening and the use of such information for retarding the ripening process has been demonstrated in this paper. Result: After reviewing the development made in extending the shelf life of fruits, it becomes evident that although success in this field has been inadequate, there are possibilities that fruit breeders will succeed in the near future in evolving superior cultivars with longer shelf life by adopting conventional and biotechnological approaches.