DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH

HEAT/LIGHT
EXTREMES
 HEAT/LIGHT EXTREMES
• The effects of light and heat are difficult to
separate.

• Plants in locations with very high light intensity are

also exposed to high-temperature conditions.

• Both, high light intensity and high temperature

can result in the breakdown
of chlorophyll in the leaves.
 HEAT/LIGHT EXTREMES
• Leaves on the sunny side of the plant or those
receiving the high temperature may exhibit
breakdown of chlorophyll, death of the tissue at
their margins or in large areas between the veins.
 HEAT EXTREMES
• Sunscald is caused by the intense heat of direct sunrays.
Light intensity and temperature can scald and kill the cambium
(the growing cell layer just under the bark) of thin-barked trees,
trees newly transplanted, or trees freshly and heavy pruned.
The wood shrinks as it dies and dries. The bark cracks open
and predisposes the damaged area to attack by canker-causing
fungi. Eventually, a branch dieback develops.
Sunscald on citrus branches.
The unprotected wood may
be attacked by fungi leading
to wood rot.
 HEAT EXTREMES
Prevention of Sunscald.
•Apply reflective lime (slaked lime) to the trunk and lower branches paying particular
attention to the south and west exposures.
•Cover trunk and large branches with commercial tree wrap; Tree wraps that are
black on one side and white on the other should always be applied with the white side
out
•Avoid heavy pruning during late spring-summer

Avoid the use of black tree

wrap as this absorbs heat
A commercial tree wrap made
of white reflective plastic.
 HEAT EXTREMES
Sunscald on tomato
Photolysis of anthocian pigments in tomato
fruits exposed to direct sunrays
 HEAT EXTREMES
Sunscald on tomato

The died tissues are

attacked by weak
pathogens such as
Cladosporium or
Alternaria
 HEAT EXTREMES
Sunscald on apple
 HEAT EXTREMES
Sunscald on pepper
Symptoms
Affected areas are straw-colored or white, soft, sunken, and wrinkled.
These dead areas form only on the side exposed to the sun. The dead
areas eventually become papery in texture, and may become dark-colored
if infection by secondary fungi occurs. Fruit affected by sunscald is
unmarketable.
Control
No resistant cultivars are available. Provide sufficient nitrogen for healthy plant
growth. Keep foliage healthy by controlling diseases and insect pests. Also, avoid
drought stress. If feasible, provide support for pepper plants by use of stakes or
use of string running along the rows, or wire
running horizontally along the beds.
 LIGHT
Greening of potato
Potato tubers, turn
green when exposed to
light.
Problems: one is the market
appearance of potatoes and
the other is health concerns
dealing with eating a green
potato:
• Marketing appearance
problems are associated
directly with greenness
which is due to chlorophyll
biosynthesis.
• Health concerns are due to
a parallel biosynthesis of a
glycoalkaloid called
solanine.
 LIGHT
Greening of potato

Exposure to light causes potato tubers

to green, due to the conversion of
amyloplasts to chloroplasts, and
accumulate toxic steroidal
glycoalkaloids.
The two major alkaloids, comprising
95% of the total (TGA) are α-
solanine and α-chaconine. The
consumption of potatoes with high
TGA concentrations can cause
illness and even death.
Increased solanine levels are
responsible for the bitter
taste in potatoes after
being cooked
 LIGHT
Greening of potato
Solutions:
Choose potato varieties that set
tubers deeper not shallow.
As in the field, in storage the
key is AVOID LIGHT. Keep
potatoes in the dark. Greening
usually occurs at the retail
level.
Use incandescent light bulbs
which release much less
ultraviolet light than
fluorescent ones
Green areas, especially the
peel, may be cut away and
cook the rest for safe eating.
http://www.panhandle.unl.edu/potato/html/greening.htm
 High temperature
Watercore of apple.
Symptoms: A preharvest disorder resulting in water soaked areas in
the flesh, hard and glassy in appearance, visible externally when
very severe. Water soaked areas are found near the core and
around the primary vascular bundles, but may occur in any part of
the apple or involve the entire fruit. Symptoms often increase
rapidly as fruit become overmature, but does not increase during
postharvest. If symptoms are mild to moderate, they may disappear
completely in storage. However, when watercore is severe, internal
breakdown can develop.
 High temperature
Watercore of apple.
Physiology: The water soaked appearance of watercore
affected fruit results from the accumulation of sorbitol-rich
solutions in the intercellular spaces. Sorbitol must be
converted to fructose by the apple fruit. The reason for
accumulation in the intercellular spaces is not known.
Susceptible apples are not able to convert sorbitol to
fructose. The browning and breakdown that results from
severe watercore is likely due to reduced gas diffusion in
the affected tissue and may involve an accumulation of
ethanol and acetaldehyde.
 High temperature
Watercore of apple.
Occurence: in all apple growing regions but
especially arid or semi-arid climates. Susceptible
varieties include Jonathan, Stayman, Winesap,
Granny Smith, and Fuji. Water core is associated with
high maturity fruit, large fruit, high leaf to fruit ratio,
high fruit nitrogen and boron, low fruit calcium, high
light exposure. The disorder is more severe during
unusually hot weather and is more frequent on the
exposed side of the apple.
 High temperature
Watercore of apple.

Control: the most effective way to reduce the

incidence of water core is to avoid delayed harvests.
Harvested fruits should be marketed quickly.
http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/Disorders/apple/pdapwater.shtml

Severe watercore in
“Annurca” Apple.
DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH
LOW
TEMPERATURES
(Chilling injury)
Plants may develop physiological disorders when exposed to low but non-
freezing temperatures.

Chilling injury
Disorders due to low temperature above the
freezing point.
 Freeze injury
is a result of damage from ice crystals formed in
tissues below the freezing point.
 Chilling injury
Chilling injury can be both a preharvest and
postharvest problem in fresh-produce industries,
especially when those industries are based on
genotypes introduced from warmer climates.
Produce losses due to chilling injury are
frequently overlooked because symptom
expression often takes several days in a non-
chilling environment. This delay frustrates
detection of conditions originally responsible, but
a combination of better management and chilling-
tolerant genotypes can forestall postharvest
losses.
 Chilling injury.
The critical temperature for chilling injury
varies with the commodity, but it generally occurs
when produce is stored at temperatures below 13°C
and above 0°C.
Therefore, crops which are susceptible to
chilling injury often have a short storage life as low
temperatures cannot be used to slow deterioration
and pathogen growth.
Chilling injury may occur in the field, in transit
or distribution, in retail or home refrigerators.
Chilling injury is primarily a disorder of crops of tropical
and subtropical origin, although certain physiological disorders
will appear in temperate crops only when they are stored at low
temperatures.
 Chilling injury.
The primary cause of chilling injury is the damage to plant
cell membranes. The first symptom of chilling injury is the phase transition
from liquid crytalline phase to solid gel state
Increase in permeability of plasmalemma results in leakage of organic and
inorganic substances

The membrane damage sets off a cascade of secondary reactions,

which may include ethylene production, increased respiration,
reduced photosynthesis, accumulation of toxic compounds, such as
ethanol and acetaldehyde, and altered cellular structure.
 Chilling injury
Chilling injury is a problem depending
on time exposure. If the produce is stored
below the critical temperature for short
periods, the plant can repair the damage.
If exposure is prolonged, irreversible
damage occurs and visible symptoms often
result.
 Chilling injury

Bananas harvested at the hard green stage from the same banana hand were
either stored at 22°C for 11 d (non-chilled) or placed at 4°C for 7 d (chilled)
before transfer to 22°C for 4 d. Compared to the non-chilled bananas, which
gradually turned from green to yellow as they ripened, the chilled bananas failed
to yellow and instead developed extensive peel blackening due to cell death.
Slight peel blackening was evident when the bananas were removed from the
4°C treatment but greatly intensified at 22°C.To maintain the postharvest quality
of Williams bananas, marketing authorities stipulate that the produce must not
be cooled below 13°C during fruit storage, and for optimal fruit condition it
should be kept in the temperature range 14-21°C.
 Chilling injury
Detection and diagnosis of chilling
injury is often difficult, as products often
look sound when removed from the chilling
temperature, but symptoms may occur when
the produce is placed at higher
temperatures.
Common Symptoms of chilling injury
•Abnormal curling and crinkling of leaves
•Wilting of leaves or whole plants
•Necrotic lesions on leaves
•Inhibition of chlorophyll synthesis
•Reduced plant growth and death
•Cracking, splitting and dieback of stems
•Loss of vigour (potato lose the ability to sprout if
chilled)
•Surface lesions on fruits (pitting, necrosis,
discolouration, tissues breakdown and browning,
etc)
•Water soaking of tissues
•Failure to ripen normally
•Inhibition of development of flavor components in
fruit
•Increased susceptibility to decay
 Potential Symptoms
of Chilling Injury
Surface lesions
- pitting, sunken or necrotic areas
- discoloration
occurs most frequently in products with a
firm, thick peel such as citrus or cucumbers
 Chilling injury
Cucurbits: Cucumbers, watermelons, melons
Optimum temperature of storage

Storage at temperatures below can promote chilling injury, in

relation to preharvest factors, variety, duration of storage, etc.
 Chilling injury
Zucchini (courgette), Watermelon, Melon

Symptoms
pitting, sunken
areas and
discoloration

These areas will

be colonized by
pathogenic fungi
 Chilling injury
Cucumber

Symptoms
pitting, sunken
areas and
discoloration

These areas will

be colonized by
pathogenic fungi
 Chilling injury
Symptoms
On citrus: Pitting and discoloration.

It is most often characterized by

areas of the peel that collapse and
darken to form pits.
Pitting is not targeted to the oil
glands. Less severe symptoms may
show up as circular or arched areas
of discoloration or scalding.
 Potential Symptoms of Chilling Injury

Water-soaking of tissues
- occurs most frequently in fruit
and vegetables with thin or soft
peels such as peppers,
asparagus, etc
 Potential Symptoms of Chilling Injury

Pitting/water loss /desiccation /shriveling

 Potential Symptoms of Chilling Injury

Internal discoloration

Low temperature
induced internal
browning of "Newton“
apple stored at 0°C.

Flesh reddening and “woolly"

texture of nectarines stored at
2°C for 3 weeks.
 Potential Symptoms of Chilling Injury

Failure of fruit to ripen

Abnormal/uneven ripening of
green tomatoes stored at 3°C
and subsequently ripened at
room temperature.
 Potential Symptoms of Chilling Injury

Wilting

Wilting of Poinsettia
after storage at 0°C
for 12 hours.
 Potential Symptoms of Chilling Injury

Tissue breakdown

Breakdown and
subsequent decay of
Cantaloupes stored at
0°C for 4 days
 Potential Symptoms of Chilling Injury
•increased decay due to leakage of plant
metabolites, which encourage growth of micro-
organisms, especially fungi

Colletotrichum spp.

Alternaria spp.

Cladosporium spp.
 Minimizing Chilling Injury.
• Reduce the length of exposition to the
chilling temperature: damage can be reversed
and no visual symptoms will occur
• Preconditioning: Stepwise cooling of the
commodity can allow the fruit to adapt to the
cooler temperatures
• Intermittent Warming: Warming the
commodity to room temperature at intervals
during storage will allow the product to prevent
chilling injury symptoms. This treatment may,
however, cause softening and water
condensation to form on the product,
increasing decay.
 Minimizing Chilling Injury.
• Cultivar selection: Certain cultivars are more resistant to
chilling.
• Pre-harvest Nutrition: Calcium treatment may stabilize
cellular membranes and reduce chilling injury in certain
commodities.
• Maturity/Ripeness selection: Generally ripen fruit is less
susceptible to chilling injury. Ripe tomatoes, bananas
and avocados tolerate lower temperatures than unripe
fruit.
• Specialty Storages: High humidity can minimize
desiccation due to chilling injury. Controlled or modified
atmospheres (generally O2 <5%, CO2 >2%) can slow
plant metabolism and slow chilling injury.
• Packaging commodities in plastic film minimize
desiccation and, consequently, chilling injury.
Thiabendazole and wax can minimize
chilling injury on citrus.

Chilling injury in Valencia oranges treated with different postharvest dips

and held for 4 weeks at 1°C followed by 2 weeks at 5°C.
Tecto 90 and Tecto SC = thiabendazole