Post-Harvest Handling of Orange

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Post-Harvest Handling of Orange

nder KABAS

Bat Akdeniz Agricultural Research Institute, 07070 Antalya, Turkey

Abstract

Worldwide postharvest fruit and vegetables losses are as high as 30 to 40% andeven much higher in some developing countries. Reducing postharvest losses is veryimportant; ensuring that sufficient food, both in quantity and in quality is available toevery inhabitant in our planet. The prospects are also that the world population will grownfrom 5.7 billion inhabitants in 1995 to 8.3 billion in 2025. World production of vegetablesamounted to 486 million ton, while that of fruits reached 392 million ton. Turkeyproduces most of its vegetable itself due to various suitable and climate regions around

the country. Reduction of post-harvest losses reduces cost of production, trade anddistribution, lowers the price for the consumer and increases the farmers income. reshfruits and vegetables are inherently perishable. During the process of distribution andmarketing, substantial losses are incurred which range from a slight loss of quality to totalspoilage. Post-harvest losses may occur at any point in the marketing process, from theinitial harvest through assembly and distribution to the final consumer. The causes oflosses are many: physical damage during handling and transport, physiological decay,water loss, or sometimes simply because there is a surplus in the marketplace and nobuyer can be found.

Oranges are grown in commercial quantities in the field. Consumers buy orangesprimarily for their size but are attracted to repeat purchases by flavor and quality. This

study focuses on the post-harvest operations of Oranges in Turkey. The post-harvestoperations carried out in packinghouses include some or all of the following; dumping,washing, pre-sizing, waxing, sorting, grading, sizing, packing and storage.

Keywords: packinghouse, handling, sorting

INTRODUCTIONValue of fruits and vegetables, (as an important source of vitamins and minerals)

is being understood more and more by consumers each day. There is a growing need offruit and vegetables on world market. Therefore, fruit and vegetables have a fast growingmarket share. Turkey has many different varieties of soil, different climates and watersources. Because of this, Turkey has many different species of fruits and vegetables.According to surveys; 140 of different vegetable species and 80 of different fruit speciesare being grown in our country (llez, 2001)

Turkey from the entire agricultural production 24.31% (26.8 million tons) arevegetables, 23.26% (16.6 millon tons) are fruits (TUIK, 2009). Total fresh fruitproduction is about 43 million tons. Fresh orange fruit export is about 1.5 millon tons.

Significant damages are being occurred in the process of growing, harvesting, andpost-harvesting, on fruits and vegetables. This causes losses on farmers and also oncountrys economy. Reducing the damages occurring on production and post-production


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and inspecting every units of production have a great role on quality of fruits andvegetables served in the markets.

As surveys indicate, 25% of fruits gets rotten in the time of delivery fromproducers to consumers. This ratio gets up 30% on vegetables (Alan and Padem, 1993;Dokuzouz 1984). These losses which occur in process of harvesting, conserving and

marketing depend on the product and get up to 50-60%. These losses on production unitshave taken in to the minimal ratios in the countries, which has advanced technology onfruit growing. Well planed units on production and post production should be built toincrease the export potential. Problems faced on fresh fruit production are as in post-production packing, conserving and transporting sequences, which has supported byimproperly organized companies. To get in to world major fruit and vegetable exportingcountries, our fruit and vegetable production sector should be organized regarding theinternational quality standards and worldwide criteria

Processes of preserving the production and getting them ready for the markets arebeing done in the packinghouse. These facilities have been built to meet differentcapacities of production and different needs of customers. Most tomato packinghouses arelarge, sophisticated, high volume operations. Upon transfer to packing line (dumping),oranges are washed, waxed, sized, sorted, graded, packed and storage.

PACKINGHOUSE OPERATIONSPackinghouse have been built in our country for oranges to carry out dumping,

waxing, washing, sorting, sizing, grading, packing and storage. These are explainedbelow;

DUMPING and WASHINGWater dump tanks are routinely used for receiving oranges at the packinghouse

and sometimes dumped into conveyor (Figure 1) When used dump tanks, in this manner,harvested oranges can be washed and cleaned from dust, soil and other material beforeoperations. A simple washing conveyor was shown Figure 2. Pallet bins are emptied in tothe dump tank by hand or mechanically. Small boxes and chest are emptied by hand, bigand heavy pallet bins by mechanically. Two methods are used to empty bin into dumptank. In the first method, the bin contents are tipped into a feeder hopper by either aforklift mounted tippler, or a static tipping cage. Some static cages do not need separatepower for tipping, the forklift tines being used to lift the rear edge. To minimize damagewhen tipping oranges, the cage should tip the bin around its front edge (Figure 3a). In thesecond method, the bin is directly intake conveyor or dump tank without an intermediatefeed hopper. This uses a powered tip cage, controlled by either a crop flow sensor (Figure

3b).The following is a summary of the suggested dump tank management practices to

eliminate these problems:

Minimize the dept to which oranges are submerged when dumped, to less than 60cm

Maintain a single layer of oranges in the dump tank Minimize the time oranges speed in the dump tank, less than two minutes. Never

leave oranges standing in the water during packinghouse crew breaks. Modifydump tanks to climinate dead spots


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Chlorinate dump tank and wash water to maintain a free chlorine concentration of100 to 150 parts per million (mg/L)

Adjust water pH about 7.0 Maintain the dump tank water temperature higher than highest fruit pulp

temperatures. Water heating requirements can be minimized by keeping harvestedfruit in the shade. Temperatures should be monitored with thermometer.

These management practices represent additive control efforts-not alternativemethods. Use of a single control parameter (like chlorination) has not proved to besufficient to prevent post harvest decay during disease-favorable conditions.

PRE-SIZINGFollowing washing, undersized oranges are eliminated by use of a perforated belt

sizer. Smaller oranges drop through the belt and are conveyed to the cull chute. This stepeliminates undersized fruits and prevents them congesting the packinghouse operationswhich fallow

WAXINGMost oranges are waxed prior to packing with good grade wax labeled for use on

oranges. Waxing serves to reduce water loss during marketing, but it is done primarily toimprove the luster of oranges (Figure 4)

RINSING AND DRYINGAfter the washing process, oranges should be rinsed and dried properly in order to

repel the disinfectants and other chemical material. Drying can be made by sponges orbrushes and also with hot air (Figure 5).

SORTING AND SIZINGCitrus are graded by size. This can be done by hand or by machine. If the grower

is grading citrus manually, it is best not to judge the size only by eye, but to use somekind of measuring device. A simple way to check fruit size is to cut a series of roundholes in a thin wooden board or a piece of thick cardboard, according to standard marketsizes for that variety

Citrus are graded by size. This can be done by hand or by machine. If the groweris grading citrus manually, it is best not to judge the size only by eye, but to use somekind of measuring device. A simple way to check fruit size is to cut a series of roundholes in a thin wooden board or a piece of thick cardboard, according to standard market

sizes for that variety (Figure 6). A revolving drum type machine is often used bypackinghouse (Figure 7). Other low-cost grading machines are also available (Figure 8).Fruits are then sized in to progressively larger size classifications as defined by the gradestandard.

PACKINGSized and graded fruits are conveyed to automatic fillers. The other hand, products

are packed by hand in the proper orders. Fruits are jumble-packed into fibreboardcontainers until they are filled to the designated net weight (5-10 kg). Filled containers areconveyed through automatic labeling wheels which stamp the size on the carton (Figure9).


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llez, S.A. 2001. Ambalajn ticari hayata etkileri. Antalya Ticaret ve Sanayi Odas Yaynlar, Say: 162, 6-9.

TUIK, 2009. Trkiye istatistik kurumu.

Figure 1. Dumper conveyor


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Figure 2. Orange washing conveyor

Figure 3a. Chest tipping cage point


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Figure 5. Drying conveyor

Figure 6. Board with Holes to Check Diameter of Fruit for Grading

Figure 7. Sorting of oranges


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Figure 8. Other type sorting of oranges

Figure 9. Packing of orange

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Post-Harvest Handling of Orange