CA Research - the Interactive Game of Applied and Fundamental Science

The quality of fruit and vegetables is essential to the Flemish horticultural sector. It is therefore important to produce, store and commercialize these products in ideal conditions. The non-profit organisation Flanders Centre of Postharvest Technology (VCBT) has been established in 1997 as a collaborative project between the Association of Belgian Fruit and Vegetable Auctions and the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). Its mission is to perform applied research and provide technological advice and extension services related to CA storage technology and quality of fruit and vegetables to producers and co-operatives. The VCBT closely collaborates with the division BIOSYST-MeBioS of K. U. Leuven which carries out fundamental research related to CA storage and quality of horticultural produce. As both groups are tightly interrelated a fertile environment is created to, on one hand, signal practical problems to subject them to fundamental research and, on the other hand, guide the practical implementation of scientifically derived solutions. This contribution will provide an overview of the work done over the last 10 years, taking internal browning in pear as a case study. This contribution will emphasize the fruitful interactions between an experimental station and a university research group, highlighting the various fundamental and applied approaches taken. Starting from the classical search for optimal CA conditions various paths have been followed ranging from physiological and physics studies to targeted metabolomic and full proteomic studies with a major role for various modelling approaches. Through all these approaches we have come to an improved fundamental understanding while at the same time practical solutions could be provided to the industry.