What was it all about?

Pre-harvest production practices are critical in developing optimal quality of vegetable crops.

This project involved a comprehensive review of knowledge on the effects of pre-harvest factors on shelf-life and quality of vegetables. The results were developed into an information package to increase grower awareness, foster adoption of practices that can enhance quality across the industry, and potentially add value to Australian vegetables.

This included three fact sheets on pre-harvest effects on the quality of lettuce, baby leaf spinach and maximising the health benefits of Brassica vegetables (see the ‘act now’ section to access).

For leafy and Brassica vegetables, it was found that an understanding of pre-harvest interactions and the development of crop schedules that could match the best combination of cultivar, growing area, plant growth rate, and time of the year, could have major benefits in terms of balancing yield and quality/shelf-life.

The review reinforced that silicon has the potential to increase product resistance to pre- and post-harvest diseases and enhance quality and shelf-life in commodities such as leafy vegetables, cucumber, zucchini and capsicum. However, there is little information on its effects under Australian conditions and current commercial cultivars.

ACT NOW

Access the fact sheets from the project...

• Pre-harvest effects on the quality of baby spinach
• Pre-harvest effects on lettuce quality
• How to maximise the health benefits of Brassica vegetables