About this Research Topic
Chilling injury affects crops in the tropical and subtropical regions. Damage can include surface pitting, discolouration, internal breakdown, water soaking, failure to ripen, growth inhibition, wilting, loss of flavour, and decay. Post-harvest handling of these crops within a cold chain system that maintains the desired temperature and humidity range is essential to preserving quality and shelf life.
To counter chilling injury, crops have developed complex tolerance mechanisms. These mechanisms include stress perception, signal transduction, transcriptional activation of stress-responsive target genes, and synthesis of stress-related proteins and other molecules. Concurrently, recent integration of molecular and omics-based techniques to conventional breeding has vastly improved the screening efficiency of traits associated with chilling tolerance. Thus, understanding these physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses and tolerance mechanisms is crucial to developing engineering strategies enhancing cold stress tolerance.
As part of the cold chain management, the application of technologies, including precooling, cold storage, refrigerated transportation, and home refrigerators, maintain horticultural products' quality and safety. Additionally, the establishment of strict handling, storing, and transport guidelines is essential. Ensuring quality from farm to consumer is critical for consumers, regulators, the food industry, and the economy.
Submissions are therefore welcomed from, but not limited to the following themes:
- Physiological, molecular, and genetic response of horticultural crops to chilling stress.
- Novel chilling-responsive pathways and genes to regulate chilling tolerance.
- Molecular and functional genomics approaches for tolerant crops selection and breeding.
- Postharvest technologies like physiology, biology, and mitigation technologies to restrict loss and ensure maximal quality and economic value.
- Physiological and quality changes in fruits, vegetables, and flowers in the cold chains.
- Profiling of metabolites in response to various postharvest stresses.
- Multi-omics analysis to understand physiological and biochemical processes in post-harvest treatment and cold chains.
- Plant hormones and signal transductions in response to post-harvest treatments.
To counter chilling injury, crops have developed complex tolerance mechanisms. These mechanisms include stress perception, signal transduction, transcriptional activation of stress-responsive target genes, and synthesis of stress-related proteins and other molecules. Concurrently, recent integration of molecular and omics-based techniques to conventional breeding has vastly improved the screening efficiency of traits associated with chilling tolerance. Thus, understanding these physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses and tolerance mechanisms is crucial to developing engineering strategies enhancing cold stress tolerance.
As part of the cold chain management, the application of technologies, including precooling, cold storage, refrigerated transportation, and home refrigerators, maintain horticultural products' quality and safety. Additionally, the establishment of strict handling, storing, and transport guidelines is essential. Ensuring quality from farm to consumer is critical for consumers, regulators, the food industry, and the economy.
Submissions are therefore welcomed from, but not limited to the following themes:
- Physiological, molecular, and genetic response of horticultural crops to chilling stress.
- Novel chilling-responsive pathways and genes to regulate chilling tolerance.
- Molecular and functional genomics approaches for tolerant crops selection and breeding.
- Postharvest technologies like physiology, biology, and mitigation technologies to restrict loss and ensure maximal quality and economic value.
- Physiological and quality changes in fruits, vegetables, and flowers in the cold chains.
- Profiling of metabolites in response to various postharvest stresses.
- Multi-omics analysis to understand physiological and biochemical processes in post-harvest treatment and cold chains.
- Plant hormones and signal transductions in response to post-harvest treatments.
Keywords: Chilling Stress, Chilling Response, Chilling Tolerance, Horticultural Crop
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
