Senescence and quality of green leafy vegetables

 

 

 

Athanasios Koukounaras

Department of Horticulture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

 

 

 

Abstract

Purpose of review: This review focuses on several factors that affect senescence of green leaf vegetables and treatments for maintaining their quality during storage.

Findings: Harvesting of green leafy vegetables induces senescence, which has a detrimental effect on their postharvest quality through accelerated chlorophyll degradation. Colour of foliar vegetables is a major characteristic for their purchase. There has been some research on the effect of several factors (plant growth regulators, ethylene, light, leaf age, atmosphere composition etc) on senescence. Furthermore, some new treatments such as heat and 1-methylcyclopropene are now under investigation and the first results are presented.

Directions for future research: Appropriate integrated postharvest handling of green leafy vegetables in order to maximise their shelf-life needs further research. Coupled with investigation to understand the chlorophyll degradation pathway, appropriate integrated postharvest handling  will help researchers to improve strategies for senescence control. In addition, the development of fresh-cut vegetables as an innovative product and the correlation with senescence and nutritional value needs further exploration.              

 

Keywords: ethylene; colour; chlorophyll degradation; yellowing

 

Stewart Postharvest Review 2009, 2:5

Published online 01 April 2009

doi: 10.2212/spr.2009.2.5