Project Number: 6204-43000-014-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Sep 02, 2004
End Date: Sep 01, 2009

Objective:
The primary goals of this project are (1) to enhance postharvest market and human nutritional quality and (2) to evaluate commodity treatments of quarantined pests of fresh fruits and vegetables, specifically muskmelons, citrus, apples, and spinach.

Approach:
The goals (objective 1) of the project are both applied and basic. The applied goals are to develop tactics (pre-harvest and post-harvest) that are readily usable and will enable producers to enhance and shippers (domestic and foreign) to preserve nutritional and marketable quality of melons. Plans are to highlight the nutritional and quality difference between conventionally and organically grown citrus. The basic goals are to elucidate the roles of phospholipase-D and lipoxygenase as agents responsible for melon fruit softening and determine the oxygen radical absorbance capacity - an indicator of phytonutrient antioxidant potential - of fresh melon fruit for their human wellness potential. The goals (objective 2) of the project are both applied and basic. The applied goals are to develop quarantine disinfestation treatments to overcome biological barriers to trade in fresh, agricultural commodities. The basic goals are to understand the mechanistic action of the treatments and how they are affected by factors that may alter efficacy and commodity tolerance.