Determination of changes on physical, chemical and organoleptic properties of selected leafy vegetables stored under different temperatures and relative humidity

Abstract

Fresh commodities which are harvested from the field tend to deteriorate if the proper cooling methods are not practiced. When the harvested commodities are exposed to an environment where temperature is lower than the commodity and the relative humidity is higher (≈95%), it reduces the rate of respiration and transpiration. This study has proved that the cold and humidified condition (temperature is lower by 30C than in-house condition and relative humidity; ≈95%) is effective for storing leafy vegetables which were tested for organoleptic properties, weight loss, colour loss and chlorophyll degradation (by spectrophotometric method) against in-house condition. But the effectiveness of storing leafy vegetables in cold and humidified condition was lower than refrigerated condition, with regard to some characteristics such as chlorophyll and colour degradation as the chlorophyll-a,b degradation, visible green colour loss and increment of yellowness were moderate compared to in-house and refrigerator conditions. But when it comes to characteristics such as freshness and weight loss, the cold and humidified condition was most effective than in-house or refrigeration condition as cold and humidified condition samples had lower cumulative loss throughout the testing period. The cold and humidified condition samples had the highest preference for appearance and overall acceptability for Sessile joyweed and higher preference for Water morning glory.