Influence of vermicompost and sheep manure on mechanical properties of tomato fruit

Abstract

Mechanical properties of the horticultural products play an important role in improving the products quality and storage life after harvesting and also reducing product waste. Recently, using organic fertilizers has increasing trend for producing high‐quality products as well as improvement of soil quality. Two of the best options to produce organic material and sustainability of agricultural production are vermicompost and sheep manure. The present study relied on determination of mechanical properties through pressure and shear tests. Vermicompost and sheep manure were used separately to fertilize the soil. After planting tomato seeds and harvesting, tomato fruits were analyzed by a universal test machine. The results showed that vermicompost was a better fertilizer than sheep manure due to its more appropriate carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N), acidity, and salinity. Also, in the pressure test, the maximum force required for bruise of tomato produced with vermicompost (41.5N) was more than that of control sample (no fertilizer) and sheep manure. In the shearing test, the maximum force required for shearing tomato produced with vermicompost (58.60 N) was lower than that of control sample (no fertilizer) and sheep manure. The findings of this study can be used to reduce the amount of waste at different stages of tomato production and supply including the design and optimization of processing and transportation equipment.

Evaluation of engineering properties for waste control of tomato during harvesting and postharvesting

“…For the shear test, a straight edge blade with the thickness of 1.4 mm and the blade angle of 30 degrees was used based on the DIN 53294 standard. The mechanical test was conducted at room temperature and cross‐head speed of 20 mm/min (Jahanbakhshi, ; Jahanbakhshi & Kheiralipour, ). The Instron machine was simultaneously connected to a computer, and data mining was carried out (Figure ).…”

“…This test was performed using Instron machine (Z 0.5 model, country Germany). For compression test, the samples were placed on the flat plate and pressed with a (Jahanbakhshi, 2018;Jahanbakhshi & Kheiralipour, 2019b). The Instron machine was simultaneously connected to a computer, and data mining was carried out (Figure 1).…”

“…Tomato fruit has the most waste as compared to other crops because tomato fruit comprises from 93% to 95% water and 5% to 7% dry matter. The waste during the harvest and postharvesting of tomato were reported to be between 30% and 40% (Jahanbakhshi & Kheiralipour, ; Mansori alam & Ahmadi, ; Shahroudi, Golmohammadi, & Kalanatri, ). In this regard, researchers have reported that there is a linear relationship between tomato's mechanical properties and its vulnerability with a 78% coefficient of determination (Desmet et al, ).…”

“…In many cases, the forces cause the mechanical damage on the product and tear its cell wall. This topic has become one of the most important issues for modeling and experimental analysis in the field of biosystems engineering (Grotte, Duprat, Loonis, & Pietri, ; Jahanbakhshi & Kheiralipour, ; Masoudi, Tabatabaeefar, & Borghei, ; Myhan, Białobrzewski, & Markowski, ; Salehi, Taghizadeh‐Alisaraei, Jahanbakhshi, & Shahidi, ; Salehi, Taghizadeh‐Alisaraei, Shahidi, & Jahanbakhshi, ).…”

Ranking and multicriteria decision making in optimization of raspberry convective drying processes

“…The force‐distance curve was recorded until displacement of 30 mm was reached upon the application of the trigger force. Shear resistance was presented as the maximum force needed to cut the sample . All measurements of mechanical properties were repeated on 10 samples.…”