Postharvest physiology and technology of Annona fruits

Annona comprises many species but 5 of them are of significant commercial importance, namely the custard apple, cherimoya, soursop, bullock's heart and atemoya. The postharvest system for these fruits is not yet adequately developed, and therefore several handling problems are still common. Rapid softening of fruits after harvest, especially during transportation and marketing is a major ongoing problem. Annonas are climacteric fruit, generally characterized by high respiration and ethylene production, and are chilling sensitive. Extended fruit storage periods are still not possible, mainly because of the high susceptibility to chilling injury. Although still limited, there has been some postharvest research on these fruits in the last 2-3 decades, but scattered in diverse sources, especially local and regional sources and in several languages, and therefore this review attempts to outline some of the important findings, especially on maturity and harvesting indices, respiration, ethylene production, ripening changes, different treatments to extend the storage and shelf life of the fruit. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.