Harvesting at different times of day does not influence the postharvest life of Chinese cabbage

Abstract

Chinese cabbages cv. ‘Yuki’ were harvested at dawn, mid-morning, midday, mid-afternoon, and dusk, and cooled either immediately or after a half an hour delay, to determine the effects on postharvest life. Temperatures during harvesting ranged from 6.1 to 21.5 °C. Water status levels were determined immediately after harvest and then heads were stored at 0 °C with destructive assessment for trimming loss, chlorophyll fluorescence, quality, and energy substrate levels after 0, 3, 6, and 9 weeks. Results indicate that harvesting at different times of the day and the half an hour delay in cooling did not affect any of these postharvest parameters of Chinese cabbage. This can be attributed to the protective function of wrapper leaves that are removed at harvest.