"Horticultural crops not only provide nutritional and healthy foods to human beings, but also generate a considerable cash income for growers. However, horticultural crops typically have high moisture content, tender texture and high perishability. If not handled properly, a high value nutritious product can deteriorate and rot in a matter of days or hours. Losses occur after harvesting is known as post-harvest losses. It starts first from the field, after harvest, in grading and packing areas, in storage, during transportation and in the wholesale and retail markets. Several losses occur because of poor facilities, lack of know-how, poor management, market dysfunction or simply the carelessness of farmers. The most important goals of post-harvest handling are keeping the product cool, to avoid moisture loss and slow down undesirable chemical changes, and avoiding physical damage such as bruising, to delay spoilage. Sanitation is also an important factor, to reduce the possibility of pathogens that could be carried by fresh produce, for example, as residue from contaminated washing water. Healthy seeds and grains are the demanding enterprise of the recent era for the production of high yield in the next season. The seeds must be stored for the maintenance of high-yielding crop. During storage, major losses of seeds are caused by various biological and nonbiological factors. There is a need to examine reasonable factors of these crop losses, which ultimately affect the market value and quality of the seed. The quality of seeds can be maintained by using careful postharvest handling techniques. There is need to establish the well-suited methods to assess the losses during the process and to use the best technique to minimize the loss and to ensure the quality and safety of the crop. Importance of Postharvest Technology lies in the fact that it has capability to meet food requirement of growing world population by eliminating avoidable losses making more nutritive food items with higher values by proper processing, storage, packaging, transport and marketing. This book Post Harvest Technology covers postharvest food preservation and processing methods, with an emphasis on grains. It emphasizes on the aspects and postharvest techniques that are used to maintain seed quality. A comprehensive review of the better, economical, convenient, and productive methods is provided, focused on the needs of developing countries but also with relevance in more industrialized countries."
