Post-Harvest Losses of Lemon Fruits: An Assessment of Microbial Floral Strength during Post-Harvest Handling

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess the microbial load on lemon fruits at different post-harvest handling stages. After harvesting, there are six different post-harvest handling stages were identified and they are collection, grading, packaging, transportation, wholesaler and retailer stages of fruits. And it was found that the microbial load was suddenly increases at Transportation stage and after it the microbial load continuously increases at subsequent stages i.e. at wholesaler and retailer level. Not only plant pathogenic microorganisms but also the human pathogenic microbes such as E. coli, Salmonella etc. were also found on the surface of fruits which were not found before the transportation stage. And it might be due to mis-handling of fruits as well as during transportation, some agricultural and non-agricultural products are transported along with the fruits.