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Project

Tomato chilling as postharvest loss reduction method in rural areas of Ethiopia

Project Summary Fruits and vegetables consumptions has been known as maintenance of health and prevention of several diseases. To maintain their physiological system, harvested fruit and vegetables continues their metabolic process afrere harvest till to a point where they become valueless. Tomatoes are popular grown fruit next to potato and sweets potatoes. Tomatoes are an important fruit crop and are a contributor of major health promoting components such as carotenoids (especially lycopene), phenolics, and ascorbic acid. However, tomatoes are a climacteric and a very perishable fruit that requires the use of postharvest preservation technologies, which maintain its quality, and consequently extend produce postharvest life. Worldwide postharvest losses of fruit and vegetables estimated about 30%, and it’s more severe 30 to 80% for the case of sub-Saharan Africa. Postharvest control of physiological, biochemical, and microbiological changes are mainly depends on temperature. Moreover, the effects of temperature on tomatoes postharvest lives are more critical in tropical and sub-tropical regions, where the temperature reaches 25 to 40° C. For instance, in Ethiopia about 85% of farmers are small-holder and mostly lives in rural area, where national electricity grid is not yet connected. Thus, to establish cooling facilities in such areas, emphasis should be given to the methods that use low cost and alternative energy sources. Therefore, this study focused on absorption cooling of tomato for field application, and solar energy will be as alternative energy source.

Date:15 Mar 2018 →  26 Apr 2021
Keywords:postharvest loss, cooling
Disciplines:Food sciences and (bio)technology, Other chemical sciences, Nutrition and dietetics, Agricultural animal production, Agriculture, land and farm management, Biotechnology for agriculture, forestry, fisheries and allied sciences, Fisheries sciences, Biological system engineering, Biomaterials engineering, Biomechanical engineering, Medical biotechnology, Other (bio)medical engineering, Analytical chemistry, Macromolecular and materials chemistry
Project type:PhD project