Chapter 1 - Introduction

Abstract

Horticultural commodities have great importance in human life. Many fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other horticultural commodities are of great importance for the human diet and health. Many horticultural commodities are also of great importance for several other uses. The great diversity of horticultural commodities in color, shape, size, form, taste, aroma, texture, etc., is the result of great diversity in anatomical, morphological, physiological and biochemical origins, characteristics, and requirements, and therefore, a great diversity in proper preharvest and postharvest handling needs and requirements. Fresh horticultural commodities are living organs, among the most perishable types of foods, and therefore, they suffer the most qualitative and quantitative losses and waste compared to all other food classes. It is very important that the characteristics of these important food commodities and the mechanisms that control their development, maturation, ripening, and senescence are understood for these commodities to be properly handled, their quality preserved, and their qualitative and quantitative losses and waste reduced. However, almost all books published on the topic in the last several years have not treated the subject in an integrated, orderly, and complete manner, and almost none of them are formatted as textbooks, but mostly as “reviews,” making it difficult for a wide spectrum of potential readers, especially students and technicians, to take full advantage of them.