EVALUATION OF POSTHARVEST LOSSES AND POTENTIAL NEW METHODS FOR THE HARVEST, TRANSPORT AND TEMPERATURE MANAGEMENT OF HAITIAN MANGOS DESTINED FOR EXPORT MARKETS By ARTHUR JOVIAL BONICET A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 Arthur Jovial Bonicet 2 Dedicated to my wife Freetzie D. Bonicet, my son Arthuro Bonicet, and my daughter Heloisha F. Bonicet 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Steven A. Sargent, for all of the dedication and guidance he has provided to me during my study and research. I would also like to thank my committee members; Drs. Arthur Teixeira, Sally Williams and Jeffrey K. Brecht for their guidance and advices. I would like to express all my gratitude to the WINNER-project of Haiti for allowing me to attend the prestigious University of Florida by paying for everything regarding my study during almost three years. I would also thank the staff of the International Program of IFAS: Dr. Walter Bowen, Mrs. Florence Sergile, Jennifer Beck, Shary Arnold and Melissa Workasch for assistances. I would like to extent many thanks to: Postharvest Laboratory people, particularly Adrian Berry, Francisco Loryza and Mildred Makani; Germain Paul Export and Agropak, two exporters of mango located in Port-Au- Prince, Haiti for good collaboration by allowing me to use their packinghouses for different experiments and providing me free samples of mango for hydrocooling test; Caribbean Fruit Connection, an importer of mango from Haiti, located in Medley Miami, FL for receiving the samples from the voyage from Haiti and allowing me to pick them up there; Chris Akers, former master’s student at the Agricultural and Biological Engineering of the University of Florida for help with pack frame; My friend, Lemane Delva for assistance in formatting the manuscript; Ronald Cademus for help in statistical analysis; I am especially grateful for the patience and understanding of my family, my wife and my two children. With their encouragement, I successfully complete this degree. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 8 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 13 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 17 Background ............................................................................................................. 17 Harvest Maturity ............................................................................................... 18 Methods of Harvest .......................................................................................... 20 Transport from the Field to the Collection Center ............................................. 21 Transport from the Collection Center to the Packinghouse .............................. 21 Packaging ......................................................................................................... 21 Rejection Types and Causes ............................................................................ 23 Postharvest Treatment ..................................................................................... 24 USDA- APHIS Requirements for Exportation ......................................................... 25 Impact of Heat Treatment on Quality ................................................................ 26 Effect of Hydrocooling Treatment on Quality .................................................... 26 Nutritional Value and Chemical Properties of Mango ....................................... 27 Sorting and Grading ......................................................................................... 29 Research Goal and Objectives ............................................................................... 30 3 EVALUATION OF HARVEST METHOD AND TRANSPORT METHOD FROM FIELD TO PACKINGHOUSE FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE HAITIAN MANGO QUALITY .................................................................................................. 35 Background ............................................................................................................. 35 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 36 Plant Material ................................................................................................... 36 Physical Materials ............................................................................................ 37 Methods............................................................................................................ 37 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................... 39 Results .................................................................................................................... 40 Effect of Tree Height and Type of Harvest Aid on Mango Harvested with Stem .............................................................................................................. 40 Effect of Transport Container ........................................................................... 40 Field to collection center ............................................................................ 40 5 Collection center to packinghouse ............................................................. 41 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 42 Harvest Aid and Tree Height ............................................................................ 42 Crate and Distance Effects ............................................................................... 43 4 EFFECT OF HYDROCOOLING FOLLOWING HOT WATER TREATMENT ON MANGO QUALITY AND RIPENING AFTER MARINE SHIPMENT ........................ 52 Background ............................................................................................................. 52 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 52 Hydrocooling Procedures ................................................................................. 53 Compositional Analyses ................................................................................... 55 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................... 57 Results .................................................................................................................... 58 Time to Full-Ripe Stage .................................................................................... 58 Total Carotenoids ............................................................................................. 58 Ascorbic Acid Content ...................................................................................... 59 Total titratable acidity (TTA) ....................................................................... 59 SSC/TTA .................................................................................................... 59 pH .............................................................................................................. 60 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 60 Firmness ........................................................................................................... 60 Total Carotenoids ............................................................................................. 61 Ascorbic Acid Content ...................................................................................... 61 Soluble Solids Contents (SSC) ......................................................................... 62 Total Titratable Acidity (TTA) ............................................................................ 62 Ratio SSC/TTA ................................................................................................. 63 pH ..................................................................................................................... 63 Summary ................................................................................................................ 63 5 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 74 APPENDIX A VARIATION OF TEMPERATURE .......................................................................... 76 B VARIATION OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY .................................................................. 77 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 78 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................................ 83 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 2-1 Estimation of rejection at each handling step of Haitian