GID 607E POSTHARVEST PHYSIOLOGY OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Catalog Data:

Fresh fruits and vegetables have living tissues in which complex biochemical and physiological reactions take place.  These reactions determine the storage life and quality of harvested fruits and vegetables.  This course teaches the postharvest changes in fresh fruits and vegetables, factors affecting them, and technologies applied to control them for extension of storage life and retention of premium quality.

Prerequisites: An introductory biochemistry course

Language: English

References:

1. Journal articles
2. Kays, S.J. 1997. Postharvest Physiology of Perishable Plant Products. Exon Press, Athens, Ga. 
3. Raven, P.H., Evert, R.F. and Eichhorn, S.E. 1986.  Biology of Plants.  Worth Publishers, Inc. New York.
4. Anderson, J.W. and Beardal, J.  1991.  Molecular Activities of Plant Cells: an introduction to plant biochemistry.  Blackwell Scientific Publications, London.
5. Fennema, O.R. 1985.  Food Chemistry.  Marcel Dekker Inc, New York.
6. Lehninger, A.L., Nelson, D.L., and Cox, M.M.  1997.  Principles of Biochemistry, 2^nd Edition.  Worth Publishers, New York, NY.
7. Wiley, R.C. 1994.  Minimally Processed Refrigerated Fruits and Vegetables.  Chapman & Hall, New York.
8. Calderon, M. and Barkai-Golan, R. 1990.  Food Preservation by Modified Atmospheres.
9. Metabolic pathways: http://www.udel.edu/chem/white/C643/MetabPathways.html , http://www.gwu.edu/%7Empb/index.html

Course Objectives:

• To teach postharvest changes in fresh fruits and vegetables in great detail so that students can use the knowledge acquired from the course in their research and also in practical applications at their work after graduation.
• To teach technologies applied to fresh fruits and vegetables for maintenance of quality, prevention of postharvest losses and value added products.
• To encourage students to use/apply their knowledge of introductory biochemistry to a specific food system
• To encourage students to develop ability to do in-depth literature search, write a review paper and do a short presentation.

Tentative Course outline:

Class Schedule:

Classes are held in one session per week; 3 class hours in one session

Evaluation:

Term paper* 20%

Midterm exam 40%

Final Exam 40%

*students will chose a topic of interest related to the course content to write a review article (in Turkish), and do a short presentation in class.

Prepared by: Assist. Prof. Dr. Gürbüz Güneş

Date: September, 2006.