Special Issue on Functional Properties in Preharvest and Postharvest Fruit and Vegetables

ABSTRACT

A total of fourteen papers (ten research papers and four review papers) in various fields of horticulture are presented in this Special Issue, including such topics as the identification and accumulation of the bioactive compounds in various plant species;the effects of abiotic stresses on bioactive compound composition and content;and exploration of the best methods for bioactive compound extraction. [1], the authors investigated the nutritional profile and the antioxidant, antiproliferative, and antibacterial activities of five species of Brassica (cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage, white cabbage, and Chinese cabbage);they found that these Brassica vegetables are excellent sources of polyphenols that showed moderate antiproliferative and antibacterial potential. [2], the effect of the bulk density and water-holding capacity of lignite substrate in comparison to mineral wool and the EC of nutrient solution on the plant morphological parameters, yield, and fruit quality of greenhouse cucumber were investigated, and the results suggest that both the substrate density and water-holding capacity positively affected the morphological features of the plants. In the fourth paper, reported by Karim and Yusof [4], it was found that the impregnation of spinach leaves with salicylic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid, and sucrose effectively improved the quality and storage ability by reducing chilling injury through improvement of the proline content.