NCHU Course Outline
Course Name (中) 園產品收穫後生理學(7086)
(Eng.) Postharvest Physiology of Horticultural Products
Offering Dept Department of Horticulture
Course Type Elective Credits 3 Teacher Lan-Yen Chang
Department Department of Horticulture/Graduate Language English Semester 2024-FALL
Course Description The course provides discussions of postharvest physiological and biochemical changes on the development and deterioration process of horticultural crops (fruit, vegetable and ornamental crops). The response of harvested organs and tissues on the postharvest environment will also be covered.
Prerequisites
self-directed learning in the course Y
Relevance of Course Objectives and Core Learning Outcomes(%) Teaching and Assessment Methods for Course Objectives
Course Objectives Competency Indicators Ratio(%) Teaching Methods Assessment Methods
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
1.Have a board knowledge about the physiological changes on fruits, vegetables and flowers of their development into an final marketable commodities.
2.Know the quality changes in biochemical aspects occur before and after harvest, and the way lead to the deterioration.
3.Be able to develop critical reasoning, judgment and communication skills; discussion on postharvest physiology issues via appropriate review of literature and independent preparation for presentations.
1.The capability of applying natural technology and biological knowledge
2.The capability of performing crop cultivation, production, and landscape design and using crop cultivation-, production-, and landscape design-related facilities
3.The capability of developing an experimental design and performing data analysis
4.To develop the skills of research and team work
5.To develop the capability of literature search and problem identification
6.To develop global perspectives and to understand recent trends in international technology development
7.To equip with the profession's ethical standards and social responsibilities
10
20
10
10
20
20
10
topic Discussion/Production
Exercises
Discussion
Lecturing
Attendance
Oral Presentation
Assignment
Quiz
Course Content and Homework/Schedule/Tests Schedule
Week Course Content
Week 1 Overview of postharvest physiology & course introduction
Week 2 Morphology, Growth kinetics, maturation, and consequences of maturity at time of harvest
Week 3 Senescence: Membrane structure/functional changes in cell, organs and individual
Week 4 [Invited speaker] – Water relations of cut flowers (draft)
Week 5 National holiday
Week 6 Respiration and temperature control
Week 7 Transpiration and water loss
Week 8 Ethylene production and perception; Ethylene and its crosstalk with other plant hormones
Week 9 Climacteric and non-climacteric crops
Week 10 Quality attributes of the crops; Flavor and aromas [Pre-recorded]
Week 11 Storage, CA & MA storage and packages
Week 12 Mechanical injury, fresh-cut produces and stress physiology
Week 13 Postharvest disorders
Week 14 Postharvest pathogens/insects and the interactions with the crops
Week 15 Oral presentation (I)
Week 16 Oral presentation (II)
Week 17 Self-directed learning
Week 18 Self-directed learning: Trends of postharvest management in the future. (Assignment- essay)
Evaluation
*Attendance + Quiz (40%):
11 different quizzes will be taken during week 3-4 & 7-15 at the beginning of the class (20 min, 9:10-9:30) and the range of the quiz will be the lecture of previous week (e.g. Quiz of Week 3 will be set based on the content of Week 2) and only 10 best scores will be counted. Regular attendance is expected. The attendance will also be scored if student take the quiz or not. For other weeks, roll will be taken randomly.
*Oral Presentation (30%):
Each student is expected to do an oral presentation for 25 min, including 15-min presentation and 10 min discussion.
Any one regular research paper of SCI journal (e.g. Postharvest biology and technology; Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry; HortScience; Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science; Food chemistry; LWT; Food packaging and shelf life…etc) related to the topic from the lectures should be chosen for presentation.
Please discuss with the lecturer before 10/31 or 2 pts will be lost
Personal oral presentation will be judged by the lecturer and other students in class, which share 25% in total. The instructions on grading the presentation will be illustrated in details before the first oral presentation. Participation in discussions will account for 5%.
*Assignments (30%):
1.Assignments of topic discussion (10%)
A few paragraphs from research papers or an entire research paper will be given with a few questions (3-4) during topic discussion. Students should sit in groups (3-4 people/group), read the articles within the group for each topic for 15-20 min and share the idea with the class for another 15-20 min. The draft of the answers to questions of each group should be written in brief and turned in at the end of class.
2.Assignment for self-directed learning (20%)
For self-directed learning part, students after the lectures for the previous weeks should be able to imagine the future of postharvest technology in human’s life. Please use one of the following keywords to search for a recent trend in postharvest innovation technology:
(1)Digital twins, (2) Robotic harvesting, (3) Nano-silver, (4) Electric field or pulse electric field, (5) Edible coating, (6) Ozone, and (7) E-beam.
Please turn in a report (3 pages, front page excluded), including:
(1) The introduction of the new technology (why the technology is developed? from where and when it starts?-History of the techonology)
(2) The mechanism (how it works, describing it by flow charts is highly recommended)
(3) The application or the trial example on the crops
(4) Conclusion and comments for the techniques (improvement suggestions? or the reason it worth developing this)
(5) Citation (Please follow APA style: Google Scholar->Citation->copy APA)
Textbook & other References
Yahia, E. M., & Carrillo-Lopez, A. (Eds.). (2018). Postharvest physiology and biochemistry of fruits and vegetables. Woodhead publishing.
Wills, R. B. H., & Golding, J. B. (2016). Physiology and biochemistry. In Postharvest: an introduction to the physiology and handling of fruit and vegetables (pp. 34-62). Wallingford UK: CABI.
Teaching Aids & Teacher's Website

Office Hours
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