Harvesting and Postharvest Technology of Dates

Assessment of Fruit Defects and Economic Loss of Some Soft Date Palm Cultivars (Phoenix Dactylifera L.) in North Delta, Egypt

“…These results are in consistent with those of Kader and Rolle (2004) who found that the magnitude of fruit losses depends, among other factors, on the nature of the commodities and the conditions of the produce at the time of collections. This also accords with FAO study in 2011 and Yahia et al (2014), they reported that, low technical capacities in harvesting performances is one of the reasons of fruit loss, also El-Habbab et al (2017) concluded that, the level of loss at harvesting time differs from area to area and from cultivar to another. Similar findings were observed on orange (Salama et al, 2015).…”

“…El-saedy (2011) found that the fallen cap (calyx) of 'Hallawy' and 'Zaghloul' fruit triggered a high increase in polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase activity that resulted in negative effect on fruit weight loss, peel anthocyanin content, soluble solids, malic acid and total phenol content, which in turn led to quick fruit deterioration during cold storage at 1 °C. This is pointed out to the need of improving harvest methods, Yahia et al (2014) and Kader and Awad (2009) reported that in Arabian Peninsula countries, mechanical damage are the common types of postharvest loss of dates. El-Habbab et al (2017) stated that dates loss at harvest time of three cultivars in four locations in Saudi Arabia, include shees & besr, birds damage, falling, insects and dust mite which is not the case for the studied soft dates cultivars under North Delta conditions.…”

“…An important step to produce and maintain high quality date fruits and reduce loss and waste is to know the volume and types of defects (El-Habbab et al, 2017). Yahia et al (2014) concluded that some of the vital means to produce good quality dates and to maintain its postharvest quality include: selecting the right type of male clones for pollination, developing appropriate date palm mechanization, especially for pollination and harvesting, adequate use of the cold chain, packaging and packages, food safety measures, insect control and prevention of re-infestation during postharvest processes. The results of FAO (2011) study pointed out that roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally.…”

“…The types of food loss and waste in low-income countries are primarily linked to the limited financial resources, low managerial and technical capacities in harvesting performances, storage and cooling facilities in hard climatic conditions, inferior infrastructure, packaging and marketing systems. Yahia et al (2014) reported that only about 10% of the world production of dates is handled in global trade due to various factors including inadequate handling practices and insufficient information for small farmers, who are the main producers. They also pointed out to the need to investigate and refine several subjects such as: improvements of harvesting systems; safe means for insect and pathogen control; adequate packaging and storage conditions; and more biochemical studies on sugar interactions, tissue softening, and browning.…”

Emigration Effects Induced by Radio Frequency Treatment to Dates Infested by Carpophilus hemipterus

“…Recent experiments with the use of electromagnetic radiation, microwaves and radio waves, have demonstrated the possibility of continuous processing for date disinfestation, which would provide a fast, reliable, safe, and environmentally friendly solution to this problem [15]. Radio frequency (RF) treatments have already been applied as a control procedure against several insect pests of stored products, such as cereals [16], dried legumes [17,18], and nuts [19,20,21], on the basis of the differential heating of insects with respect to the infested product [22].…”