Postharvest Agriculture

Research on the postharvest physiology of horticultural crops and development of techniques for distribution and storage of horticultural crops

Staff

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ryohei NAKANO E-mail： rnakano (please add ＠okayama-u.ac.jp) Specialty: Postharvest horticulture, Plant Physiology Molecular biological analysis of fruit ripening and senescence

Research Topics

Research on mechanism(s) of postharvest ripening and senescence are conducted on fruit crops such as tomato, peach, melon, strawberry and persimmon at biochemical and molecular biological levels. Based on the findings obtained from this research, techniques for prolonging storage-life and maintaining the quality of these fruit crops are developed.

Research on postharvest rapid softening in persimmon fruits and development of techniques to delay the softening

We revealed that postharvest rapid softening in some persimmon cultivars are induced by water stress-induced ethylene. Base on this finding, we developed techniques to delay the softening of these persimmon cultivars by using perforated polyethylene film or a corrugated cardboard container coated with water-impervious material.

(14 days after harvest)

Publications

・Mworia E. G., T. Yoshikawa, N. Salikon, C. Oda, W. Asiche, N. Yokotani, K. Ushijima, R. Nakano and Y. Kubo. (2012) Low-temperature modulated fruit ripening is independent of ethylene in Sanuki Gold kiwifruit. J. Exp. Bot., 63, 963-971
・Ushijima, K., R. Nakano, M. Bando, Y. Shigezane, K. Ikeda, Y. Namba, S. Kume, T. Kitabata, H. Mori and Y. Kubo. (2012) Isolation of the floral morph-related genes in heterostylous flax (Linum grandiflorum): the genetic polymorphism and the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulations of the S locus. Plant J., 69, 317-331
・Bassil E., H. Tajima, Y. H. Liang, M. Ohto, K. Ushijima, R. Nakano, T. Esumi, A. Coku, M. Belmonte and E. Blumwald (2011) The Arabidopsis Na+/H+ Antiporters NHX1 and NHX2 regulate vacuolar pH and K+ homeostasis to control growth flower development and reproduction. Plant Cell, 23, 3482-3497
・Yokotani N., R. Nakano, S. Imanishi, N. Nagata, A. Inaba and Y. Kubo (2009) Ripening-associated ethylene biosynthesis in tomato fruit is autocatalytically and developmentally regulated. J. Exp. Bot., 60, 3433-3442
・Nakano R., E. Ogura, Y. Kubo and A. Inaba. (2003) Ethylene biosynthesis in detached young persimmon fruit is initiated in calyx and modulated by water loss from the fruit. Plant Physiology, 131, 276-286