The use of brick-walled evaporative cooler for storage of tomato

Abstract

A cost-effective alternative to cold storage is the brick-walled evaporative cooler (BEC). The effects of BEC on mature green and breaker ‘Diamante Max’ tomatoes were assessed. Two trials were carried out at ambient conditions with (i) 27.13±0.78 °C and 80.89±4.47%RH; (ii) 26.93±0.87 °C and 80.05±5.20% RH and with BEC (i) 25.49±0.58 °C and 99.90±0.10% RH; (ii) 25.42±0.90 °C and 97.75±3.25% RH. BEC-stored tomatoes showed 10.36% lesser weight loss, lesser decay incidence, redder color and better visual quality compared to control fruit. The higher L* and hue of around 90 in ambient-stored tomatoes indicated a lighter color as fruit turned to yellow compared to a lower L* and hue in BEC indicating a darker red color. An increased chroma was recorded as fruit turned from green or breaker to yellow, orange, or light red while the values of a* became negative. The BEC maintained the firmness and total soluble solids, especially in mature green tomatoes. After 49 days of storage, 61.8% of the fruit stored in the BEC were marketable compared to 23.3% in ambient conditions. The BEC system showed 27.16% higher annual benefit over cost than the ambient storage conditions. Thus, the BEC system can potentially maintain the quality of ‘Diamante Max’ tomatoes.