Kinetics analysis of the effect of storage room temperature and packaging films characteristics on the rate of change of sugar palm fruit (Arenga pinata) quality in a Modified Atmospheric Packaging (MAP)
Arina Fatharani and Nursigit Bintoro
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Abstract
Sugar palm fruit is a tropical fresh product which derived from sugar palm plants. Handling and storage of sugar palm fruit is still in the traditional way, and it creates difficulties for broader marketing. Storage air temperature and film packaging greatly affects to various factors of the fresh products damage that can be represented by the change in respiration rate of those produtcs. The aim of this study was to study the effect of storage temperature and plastic film characteristics on the change of the respiration rate of sugar palm fruit during storage period in the MAP. Several treatment combinations including storage temperature and plastic film thickness were investigated in the research. It was found that storage temperature had stronger effect on the respiration rate of sugar palm fruit as compared to the effect of packaging film thickness. The higher storage temperature the longer would the time to reach constant O2 and resulted in the higher respiration rate. Statistical analysis indicated that storage temperature, packaging film thickness, and the interaction of those two factors were significantly affect the respiration rate of the fruit. Arrhenius kinetics could explain the effect of storage temperature on respiration rate of sugar palm fruit.
Keywords: fresh products, plastic films, atmospheric, modified, storage
Topic: Postharvest and food engineering