Factors Affecting Post harvest Quality and Shelf life of Onion Bulbs

Post harvest losses are the main constraints worldwide which resulted in losing considerable amount of onion bulbs in quantity and in quality. High storage losses compel producers to sell their produce immediately after harvest when the price is low because of over flooding of the markets with onion at harvest time. Onion bulbs delivered at the market in this way have also low quality and short shelf life on the retailers' and consumers' hand.Therefore, this book provides basic information about curing, storage temperature and storage duration which affects the post harvest quality and shelf life of onion bulbs. Three curing periods, two storage temperatures and four storage durations were studied and the detailed results are provided in this book. The findings of this study could contribute a lot in reducing post harvest losses and increasing the shelf life of onion dry bulbs which allow producers and/or retailers to sell their produce at higher price during the period of low production or supply. In addition, the output of this study is beneficial for researchers, governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations.