Advances in Postharvest and Analytical Technology of Horticulture Crops

This book discusses advances in postharvest and analytical technology for horticulture crops and challenges to meet future needs. The horticulture crops (fruits and vegetables) need a systematic and scientific postharvest handling and management system for securing both physical and chemical attributes while prolonging their shelf life. Postharvest technologies include storage, drying, packaging, extraction of components, and preparation of juice and wine from the collected fruits and vegetables. All these postharvest technologies have emerged and evolved with time to provide meaningful solutions to minimize food loss, maintain quality, and provide fast processing of horticulture crops. Parallel development of analytical techniques has also evolved to monitor the quality of fruits and vegetables during postharvest processing and thus provide a rapid and efficient method for delivering safer food products. This book provides an overview of different postharvest technologies, their mechanisms, and their effect on the quality of horticulture crops. It also emphasizes the assessment of each advanced technology, including its limitations and advantages. Overall, this book provides techniques, research, mechanisms, advances, and challenges of postharvest and analytical technologies for horticulture crops, along with recommendations for future research directions. 

Dr. Monika Thakur is working as Professor at Amity Institute of Food Technology, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, India. She is currently engaged in the development of functional foods, and extraction of bioactive components. She was awarded PhD in 2006 by Himachal Pradesh University. She is Double Gold Medalist (MSc and MPhil) and received several prestigious awards, including Post-Graduate Studies Himachal Pradesh (2004), Himalayan Research Scholar Association (2007), Wiley Research Academy (2017), Young Scientist Award, IITT (2020), Best Speaker Award (2020, 2021), Young Researcher Award (2021), and Best Paper Presentation (2023 Nutricon Malaysia). Apart from her teaching assignments, she has been involved in various research and extension activities. She has guided more than 30 dissertations, and 3 students have completed PhD under her guidance. She is a member of editorial board and reviewer in journals of national and international repute. She has published more than 60 publications, 35 book chapters, 10 books (authored + edited), and a compendium; holds 2 patents and 3 copyrights; has presented more than 70 papers; has established 2 industrial consultancies; has conducted 3 technology transfers; and has sanctioned DST and MSME projects. She has also organized various training programs, faculty development programs, international conferences, and national seminars. Her research interests include plant sciences, phytochemicals, functional foods and nutraceuticals, mycology, food microbiology and food safety, development of functional food products, and related areas.

Dr. Tarun Belwal is currently working at Texas A&M University, Texas, USA. Before this, Dr. Belwal worked at the Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, Italy, and at the College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, China. Dr Belwal completed his graduation in pharmaceutical science (B. Pharma) from HNB Garhwal University and his master’s in biotechnology (M. Tech) from VIT University, Vellore, before receiving his PhD (Biotechnology) from Kumaun University, Uttarakhand, India. During his PhD, he worked at GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (NIHE), Almora, Uttarakhand, on the utilization of natural products as nutraceutical agents and examined their functional activities, development of the plant in vitro cell culture, and advanced extraction techniques, for which he was awarded the prestigious Governor Award for Best Research by the Uttarakhand Government for two years. He has completed a project as principal investigator (2018–2020), funded by CPDSF, China. His excellent research credentials reflect over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications (>25 as first/corresponding author), 15 book chapters, and 6 edited books with over 6600 citations. Dr. Belwal has guided several PhDs, postgraduates, and undergraduate students and jointly shares the research outcomes. He also collaborated with several leading global researchers, which led to fruitful collaborative outcomes. Dr. Belwal is currently serving as associate editor of Phytomedicine and Heliyon journals (Elsevier). He is also an editorial board member of Food Chemistry (Elsevier). He has also been listed in the top 2% global research scientist category for the years 2021 and 2022, as analyzed and published by Stanford University. Dr. Belwal has interdisciplinary research, managerial, and collaborative skills, and experiences to secure the goal of integrating research into the ground. His research interests include phytomedicine, phytopharmacology, analytical chemistry, development and scale-up bioprocess, nutraceuticals for health use, nano-chemistries for agro-food science, biosensors, ultrasonic sonochemistry, and related areas.