Postharvest Technology Division, BARI

d nutritional qualities of harvested crops occur. The average losses of food grains during different stages of postharvest handling operations is about 12-15% and that for the horticultural crops is about 25-40%. The production of crops particularly horticultural crops is insufficient considering the national demand. Again, the vast quantity of losses of this crop seriously reflecting the nutritional status of the country. Therefore, it is better to give more emphasis on reduction of postharvest losses of crops instead of increasing production, as the later involve high input cost. To overcome the food and nutrient deficiency of the country, major thrust should be given on developing appropriate postharvest management technologies of crops. The Postharvest Technology Division of BARI is working with postharvest handling, packaging, storage, transportation, processing and preservation of BARI mandated crops through different project activities for developing postharvest management technologies. The division has already developed 29 technologies on postharvest handling, storage, processing and preservation of agricultural produce. The existing" divisional activities, involvement of scientist and developed technologies of last few years are as follows:

MANDATE OF THE DIVISION
 Development and the improvement of technologies on postharvest handling, storage, processing, preservation, packaging and quality evaluation of BARI mandated crops
 Creation of Agribusiness and Agro-processing lob opportunities for rural poor

OBJECTIVES
To assess postharvest losses of food grains and perishables and to identify the prioritize areas for research intervention for minimizing losses
 To develop/improve appropriate Postharvest Management Technologies (processing, preservation and packaging) for agricultural crops at farm, traders and miller’s level
To study the quality of fresh, processed and stored agricultural products and to devise techniques to increase their shelf life and retain their quality
To increase income generation for the rural poor and agribusiness by training/providing simple processing techniques

AREAS OF RESEARCH WORK FOR REDUCING POSTHARVEST LOSSES OF CROPS
Postharvest handling, storage, transportation and packaging of cereals, legumes and horticultural crops
Processing and preservation of cereals, legumes & horticultural crops
Quality evaluation of fresh and processed products
Food processing equipment, storage containers and structure development
Analysis and quality control of food

DEVELOPED TECHNOLOGY
 Improvement of structures for safe storage of pulses/maize/ground nut seeds/dried chili
 Fixation of viable maturity indices for mango/sweet pepper
 Preservation of fruits slices (mango/litchi/jackfruit/pineapple/papaya) in covering syrups
 Processing of preserves and candies from musk melon/sweet gourd/ridge gourd and cucumber
 Processing of sweet potato into jam/jelly/chips
 Preservation of green fruits and vegetables (mango/olive/golden apple/chalta/sathkora/carrot/green peas) in brine solution
 Processing of sun dried chips from potato
 Processing of fruits (mango/golden apple/jack fruit/olive/aonla/brinjal/ green chili/chalta/sathkora/strawberry/taikar/carrot/cauliflower cabbage/garlic) into pickles
 Processing of fruits (mango/golden apple/olive/chalta/ber-tamarind/ wood apple/aonla/sathkora/taikar) into chutney
 Processing of tomato into ketchup/sauce
 Processing of fruits and vegetables (golden apple/guava/pineapple/wood apple/palmyra palm/papaya/tomato) into jam
 Processing of fruits (guava/pineapple/mango/strawberry/wood apple/palmyra palm/orange sweet orange/papaya) into jelly
 Processing and preservation of fruits and vegetables (mango/pineapple/guava/malta/orange/Iemons/strawberry/wood apple/papaya/tomato) into shelf-stable juice/drinks/squash/RTS/necter
 Fermentation of mixed vegetables (cauliflower/cabbage/carrot/cucumber) into sauerkraut
 Preservation of tomato pulp/mango pulp/guava pulp/onion paste at ambient temperature
 Processing of cabbage by dehydration method
 Formulation of processing method for mango fruit bar/multifruit leather/coconut candy
 Standardization of spiced papads preparation from different pulses
 Processing method of green banana/potato/aroids into chips/ finger chips
 Processing and preservation of green coconut water
 Development of processing method for sweetened condensed corn milk
 Preparation of somatically dehydrated fruit slices (Ashwina mango/jackfruit/banana/papaya/pineapple)
 Method development for prolonging storage life of summer onion
 Standardization of packages for quality and storage life of selected vegetables (spinach/amaranth/red amaranth/country bean/okra/green chili/ridge gourd/sponge gourd)
 Standardization of packages for quality and storage life of selected fruits (mango/banana/papaya)