Influence of mechanical stresses on the respiration activity of carrots

Due to unsuitable handling during harvest, postharvest and marketing carrot s are exposed to a number of mechanical loads. These loads often lead to a diminishing of the internal and external quality. In order to evaluate prod uct damages it is useful to measure the respiration rate. Externally almost undamaged carrots react to mechanical loads by increasing the respiration rate. Here differences can be established depending on the intensity and th e kind of load. Numerous impacts of low intensity which result only seldom in externally visible product damages lead to a pronounced increase in the respiration rate. Measurements in packinghouse lines demonstrate that the r espiration intensity increases with each step of processing.