Assessment of Nutritious Values of Tomatoes Before and After Storage in Free Energy Cooling Chambers/
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Date
2020-12-01
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Abstract
Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is one of the most widely consumed fresh vegetable. However, its highly perishable nature limits its postharvest life.
Temperature and relative humidity management to extend shelf life and maintain postharvest quality of perishables is the main problem in tropical countries like
Zanzibar. The best option to do is through mechanical refrigerator but it is unaffordable for farmers and small retailers in developing countries to buy and run. So,
development of this technology is important task to overcome the human health problems. The current study conducted to assess the nutritious values of tomatoes before and after storage in cooling chambers on shelf life and postharvest whereby, Roma tomato maintained better. Cooling Chambers designed using the affordable local materials and average temperature observed inside the cooling chambers were (23, 20.7 and 20.35)0C while at the ambient condition were (30, 30.5 30.6)0C respective to Nyamanzi, Bungi and Dunga. pH, total soluble solid (0 Brix), Lycopene and Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) were assessed as response variables and much better inside Cooling Chambers as compared at ambient condition. Weight loss and deterioration percentage of tomatoes stored in cooling chambers were 4.2%, 5%, and 8.02% while at ambient condition were 15%, 30% and 37.5% respectively to Roma egg shape, round shape and
Cherry tomatoes. The finding has significant contribution to reduce economic losses of perishable fruits and evidence to researchers. These results show that, cooling chamber can be used to store the fruits and vegetables for a desirable period of time with minimum significant loss and will be beneficial to maintain a regular market flow for a marginal farmer. In this study assessed that FECC gives an alternative approach on temperature and relative humidity management to mechanical refrigerator.
Description
The current study conducted to assess the nutritious values of tomatoes before and after storage in cooling chambers on shelf life and postharvest whereby,
Roma tomato maintained better