Performance Assessment of Evaporative-Cooled Storage System in Short-Term Storage of Fruit Vegetables during Transportation

Abstract

The study presents the performance and potential of an evaporative-cooled storage system for the short-term storage of fruit vegetables during transportation. The evaporative cooler, storage unit, power supply, control panel, and real-time data monitoring system are the components of the evaporative-cooled storage system. In this study, the system performance was assessed in terms of the cooling profile of the storage unit (temperature and relative humidity profiles), and postharvest quality of the selected fruit vegetables (chili, tomato, and long bean) for the fresh market. Three storage treatments for the selected fruit vegetables were investigated, i.e., evaporative-cooled storage unit (T1), ambient room (T2), and cold room (T3). The average temperature inside the storage unit was T3 < T2 < T1. T1 demonstrated RH of > 90 %, in agreement with recommended RH for vegetable storage. Post-five-hour storage treatments, vegetables stored under T1 exhibited the least weight loss as compared to T2 and T3. The application of an evaporative-cooled storage system provided potential to preserve fruit vegetable postharvest quality during transportation.