1. Introduction
The horticultural produce includes fruits, vegetables, flowers and other ornamental plants, plantation crops, aromatic and medicinal plants and spices. However, in this chapter, information on fruits and vegetables is only included. According to Oxford English Dictionary, fruit can be defined as ‘the edible product of a plant or tree, consisting of seed and its envelope, especially the latter when it is juicy or pulpy’. The consumer definition of fruit would be ‘plant products with aromatic flavours, which are either naturally sweet or normally sweetened before eating. The classification of fruits and vegetables is arbitrary and according to usage. Botanically many crops, defined as vegetables, are fruits (tomato, capcicum, melons etc.). Morphologically and physiologically the fruits and vegetables are highly variable, may come from a root, stem, leaf, immature or fully mature and ripe fruits. They have variable shelf life and require different suitable conditions during marketing. All fresh horticultural crops are high in water content and are subjected to desiccation (wilting, shriveling) and to mechanical injury. Various authorities have estimated that 20-30 percent of fresh horticultural produce is lost after harvest and these losses can assume considerable economic and social importance. That is why, these perishable commodities need very careful handling at every stage so that deterioration of produce is restricted as much as possible during the period between harvest and consumption.