Post Harvest Management of Horticultural Crops

Structure of fruits, vegetable and flowers

The fruits commercially comprise various combinations of tissues that may include an expanded ovary, the seed and other tissue.
Definition of Fruit: ‘The edible product of a plant or tree, consisting of the seed and its envelope, especially the latter (envelope) when juicy and pulpy’.
Consumer definition of Fruit: ‘Plant product with aromatic flavors, which are either naturally sweet or normally sweetened before eating’
Vegetables: do not represent any specific botanical groupings and exhibits wide verity of plant structure. (Edible seeds / roots / stems / leaves / bulbs / tubers / non sweet fruits of herbaceous plants).
Vegetables are grouped into 3 main categories
1) Seeds and pods – contain natural wax coating. Eg. Many legumes
2) Bulbs, roots and tuber – no coating, but tuber has suberisation
3) Flowers, buds, stems and leaves – low shelf life

Flowers: are variations of inflorescence. Basic structure of inflorescence is stem, including pedicel and peduncles, bracts and flowers. Inflorescence is low in carbohydrates compared to fruits. Hence sucrose solution is provided to enhance the vase life of the flowers.
Most of the fruits, vegetables and flowers are made up of paranchymatous tissues containing typical plant cell. Almost all the cell components of a plant cell are present in these cells too. All fruits and many vegetables being storage organs or sink of the plant are abundant in photosynthates.


Table: Difference between fruit and vegetables
Fruits	Vegetables
Generally consumed as raw, not during meals. (Dessert purpose)	Consumed as cooked during meals
More sweet	Less/nil sweet
Juicy, pulpy and luscious	Hard and mostly not juicy
Fruits are developed from flower / flower part/inflorescences	It can be leaf/stem/root/flower etc.
Mostly woody perennial	Mostly non woody annuals or biennials
Mostly propagated asexually	Mostly by Seed
Fruits are acidic and are commonly called 'high acid' foods. (pH < 4.5)	Vegetables are less acidic than fruits and hence classified as 'low acid' foods.(pH >4.5)
Acidity naturally controls growth of micro-organisms	Micro-organisms are able to grow in moist low-acid products, which may lead to spoilage and the possibility of food poisoning.
The spoilage microorganisms are moulds and yeasts, which if consumed, rarely cause illness.	To prevent/minimise microbes like bacteria various methods are employed like processing
Processing may be achieved by using preservatives such as sugar, salt and vinegar and by drying, concentration or fermentation.	Processing by means of heating to destroy bacteria or by pickling, salting, or drying to inhibit bacterial growth. (Possibility of transmitting food poisoning bacteria to consumers).