“Processing, Handling,

and Storage”
AE 133A
 Perishable Goods
O Broccoli
(brassica oleracea
italica)
O Sugar beets
(beta vulgaris L.)
General Economic Importance of
Broccoli and Sugar Beets
O Cash crop – for urban and exports markets
O Industrial – supports many industries like
processing, seed industry, fertilizer, pesticide,
herbicide and farm machinery
O Farm employment – more job opportunities
O Internal satisfaction – aesthetic value, by
observing the growth of crop
Broccoli (brassica oleracea italica)
O Broccoli is an English name derived from the
Italian word broccolo which means “the
flowering crest of cabbage,” and the latin
brachium meaning arm, branch, or shoot.

O Broccoli has been considered a very valuable

 By products/uses
O Condiments
- flakes, granules, powder
O Fresh produce
O Food supplement
O Medicine ingredient
O Essential oil
O Processed vegetables
Anatomy
 Morphology
O Leathery, oblong leaves which are gray blue to
green in color.
O Broccoli leaves can be long and thin or short and
wide and grow along the stalk.
O Large edible flower heads, usually dark in color,
arranged in a tree like structure
O Thick green stalk which are light green in color.
 Growth Cycle
• The first step in the growing season is seed germination.
• Broccoli seeds take one to two weeks to germinate.
Seed
Germination • Keep broccoli seeds at 26 degrees C during germination.

• Seedling development takes three to four weeks after the seeds germinate.
Seedling • Expose to full sunlight one week before transplanting.
Development

• Keep broccoli seedlings indoors until they are four weeks old.
• Water the seedbeds and gently uproot the seedlings.
Transplanting
• Transplant in rows 0.5-0.75 cm apart and 0.3-0.5 m between plants.
• Irrigate before and after transplanting.

Early and • Broccoli develops a stalk and mature leaves before producing the flowering top.
Mature
Harvest Broccoli plants mature for harvest in 50 to 65 days after planting.
Flowering
Tops

• The last stage of growth before harvest is the development of flower heads. Harvest
broccoli when the flower heads are 6 to 8 inches across and compact, with tightly
Harvest and closed green buds. Developing broccoli heads can be harvested at any point. The final
Seed
Collection
stage of broccoli development is the flower and seed development. Any broccoli that is
allowed to go to seed will not be harvestable.
 Sugar Beets (beta vulgaris L.)
O Sugar beets is a biennial species, however can act as an annual( Smith, 1987).
O It had originated from Middle East, near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is thought
that wild beets spread west into the Mediterranean and north along the Atlantic sea
coast. Geographic isolation of wild beets on the Canary Islands lead to the
discoveries of distinct species, mostly are annual. The dispersal of wild types north
into the mountains of Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasus Mountains of Russia, also led
to establishments of species (Cooke and Scott, 1993). Finally, wild beet spread
through most of Eastern Asia.
O Historically, beets have been used for both livestock and human consumption. First
recorded use of beets is from Middle East. Records dating to 12 th century contain the
earliest descriptions of sugar beets as plants with swollen roots (Toxopeus, 1984). It
was not until the late 18th century, that German scientist began to breed beets to
increase the sugar content of their roots (American sugar beet Growers Association,
1998).
O Originally, forms of sugar beet were derived from white Silesian beet, which had
been used as fooder crop and contained only about 4% sugar. Through repeated
selection and breeding , sugar content raised to its present level.
 Economic Importance of Sugar
Beets
 By products/uses
O Sucrose production – recognized as plant with
valuable sweetening properties
O Dietary food additive
O Health supplement
O Human food – fresh produce
O Livestock feed – fresh
O Processed pulp and molasses
O Silage (beet tops)
O Alcoholic beverage – rum like
Anatomy
 Morphology
O The root of the beet contains 75% water, about
20% sugar, and 5% pulp.
O It has a conical, white, fleshy root(taproot)
with a flat crown.
O Grows to a height of 35 cm.
O The leaves are numerous and broad that grows
in a tuft from the crown of the beet.
 Growth Cycle
• The sugar beet plant is described to have glabrous leaves that are ovate to cordate
in shape and dark green in color.
• The leaves form a rosette from an underground stem.
Vegetative • A white, fleshy taproot develops, prominently swollen at the junction of the stem
Stage
(Duke,1983).

• A flowering stalk elongates (bolts) from the root. These angular seed stalk forms
an inflorescence and grows approximately 1.2-1.8 meters tall. A large petiolate
leaf develops at the base of the stem with small leaves, further up the stem there
are less petiolate leaves and finally sessile leaves developing.
• At the leaf axils, secondary shoots develop forming a series of indeterminate
racemes (Forster et al.,1997). The flowers are small, sessile and occur singly or in
clusters. It produce a perfect flower consisting of a tricarpellate pistil surrounded
by five stamens and a perianth of five narrow sepals. Petals are absent and each
Reproductive flower is subtended by a slender green bract (Smith, 1987).
Stage
• The ovary forms a fruit which is embedded in the base of the perianth of the
flower. Each fruit contains a single seed whose shape varies from round to
kidney-shaped. The ovaries are enclosed by the common receptacle of the flower
cluster (Duke, 1983).
• A monogerm seed is formed when the flower occurs singly. The multigerm beets
seed is formed by an aggregation of two or more flowers (Cooke and Scott, 1993).
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