“Advancing Onion Postharvest Handling Efficiency and Sustainability by Multimodal Quality Sensing, Disease Control, and Waste Stream Management”;

Project Director – Dr. Changying “Charlie” Li at cyli@uga.edu

[ Supported in Part by USDA-NIFA-SCRI Project No. 2009-02520 ]

Goal: Enhance onion postharvest handling efficiency and sustainability by integrating more efficient online sorting, reducing storage losses, and managing the waste stream of onions in relation to the following objectives:

·         Enhance the efficiency of onion quality sorting by a multimodal sensing platform using X-ray and hyperspectral imaging technologies.

·         Develop a gas sensing and tracing method for disease detection in storage and evaluate onion postharvest disease management practices.

·         Manage the onion waste stream and mitigate environmental pollution using an anaerobic digestion system.

·         Evaluate social implications and economic impacts of these technologies.

·         Engage in outreach and technology transfer with stakeholders.