Purpose:The characteristics of in-transit vibration stress and possible damage to packaged apples were examined. Methods: A simulated transportation environment with a specific power density profile was used for vibration impact experiments to determine the resulting decrease in packaged apple quality. Apples with or without vibration stress were stored at low temperature (5 ± 0.8℃, 75-85% relative humidity) for 30 days. Statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were found between apples with and without vibration stress for concentration of oxygen (O2; 11.2% and 14.1%, respectively; initially 20.9 ± 0.4%), carbon dioxide (CO2; 26.4% and 21.8%; initially 1 ± 0.2%), and ethylene (79.4 µLL -1 and 55.6 µLL -1 ; initially 14.1 ± 0.6 µLL -1 ) in the headspace of a gas-collecting container after 30 days of storage. Results: Significant differences were also measured for apples with and without vibration stress with respect to soluble solid content (15.4% and 14.9%, respectively; initially 12.9 ± 0.8% and 13.1 ± 1.1%), weight loss (10.1% and 8.2%), and firmness (139.7 kPa and 163.3 kPa; initially 213.8 ± 6.2 kPa and 209.1 ± 7.9 kPa) after 30 days of storage. Conclusions: The vibration stress clearly accelerated the degradation of apple quality during storage, resulting in increased weight loss, soluble solid content, and headspace CO2 and ethylene production, and decreased firmness and headspace O2.

Purpose: Drying is one of the most widely used methods for preserving agricultural products or food. The main purpose of drying agricultural products is to reduce their water content for minimizing microbial spoilage and deterioration reaction during storage. Methods: Although numerous drying methods are successfully applied to dehydrate various agricultural products with little drying time, the final quality of dried samples in terms of appearance and shape cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, based on published literature, this review was conducted to study the drying characteristics of various agricultural products when different drying methods were applied. Results: An increase in the drying power of sources-for example, increase in hot air temperature or velocity, infrared or microwave power-and the combination of drying power levels can reduce the drying time of various agricultural products. In addition, energy efficiency in drying significantly relies on the compositions of the dried samples and drying conditions. Conclusions: The drying power source is the key factor to control entire drying process of different samples and final product quality. In addition, an appropriate drying method should be selected depending on the compositions of the agricultural products.

This study was conducted to analyze the ultrasonic transmitted signal for apple using wavelet transform. Fruit consists of non-linear visco-elastic properties such as flesh, an ovary and rind and hence most ultrasonic wave is attenuated and its frequency is shifted during passing the fruit. Thus it was not easy to evaluate the internal quality of the fruit using typical ultrasonic parameters such as wave velocity, attenuation, and frequency spectrum. The discrete wavelet transform was applied to the ultrasonic transmitted signal for apple. The magnitude of the first peak frequency of the wavelet basis from the ultrasonic transmitted signal showed a close correlation to the storage time of apple.

The consumption of pre-treated vegetables (including fresh-cut vegetables) that are washed, peeled, and trimmed has been significantly increased because of their easy use for cooking. Vegetable cutting machines have been widely utilized for producing fresh-cut vegetables or agricultural products of different sizes; however, the design standard is not established for specific types of agricultural products. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine mechanical properties (compressive and shear forces) of targeted agricultural products (radish, carrot, squash, cucumber, shiitake mushroom, and sweet potato) for developing a multipurpose vegetable cutting machine. According to ASAE standard (s368.3), compressive and shear forces of targeted agricultural products were measured by using a custom built UTM (universal testing machine). Shape type of samples and speed ranges (5 -15 mm/min) of loading rate on bioyield and shear points varied depending on the targeted agricultural product. The range of averaged bioyield points of targeted agricultural products were between 7.89 and 146.98 N. On the other hand, their averaged shear points ranged from 22.50 to 53.47 N. Results clearly showed that the bioyield and shear points of targeted agricultural products were thoroughly affected by their components. As measuring compressive and shear forces of a variety of agricultural products, it will be feasible to calculate blade cutting force for designing multipurpose vegetable cutting machine.

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Purpose:The compression strength of corrugated fiberboard containers used to package agricultural products rapidly decreases owing to various environmental factors encountered during the distribution of unitized products. The main factors affecting compression strength are moisture absorption, long-term top load, and fatigue caused by shock and vibration during transport. This study characterized the durability of corrugated fiberboard containers for packaging fruits and vegetables under simulated transportation conditions. Methods: Compression tests were done after corrugated fiberboard containers containing fruit were vibrated by an electro-dynamic vibration test system using the power spectral density of routes typically traveled to transport fruits and vegetables in South Korea. Results: To predict loss of compression strength owing to vibration fatigue, a multiple nonlinear regression equation (r 2 = 0.9217, RMSE = 0.6347) was developed using three independent variables of initial container compression strength, namely top stacked weight, loading weight, and vibration time. To test the applicability of our model, we compared our experimental results with those obtained during a road test in which peaches were transported in corrugated containers. Conclusions: The comparison revealed a highly significant (p ≤ 0.05) relationship between the experimental and road-test results.

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