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    Optimization of greenhouse drying process for white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)
    (Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2016) Sidhu, Jashandeep Singh; Amarjit Singh
    The present study entitled “Studies on optimization of greenhouse drying process for white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporous)” was carried out in the Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University. Mushrooms were pretreated with citric acid and samples without treatment were kept as control. The treated and untreated mushroom samples were dried in greenhouse and open sun during the month of October, 2015.On the basis of microclimate parameters, a mathematical thermal model “BITGREEN” for greenhouse was developed to optimize the drying conditions. The developed model was working satisfactorily to predict the microclimate inside the greenhouse. The drying parameters studied were moisture content, moisture ratio, drying rate, drying air temperatures, solar intensity and relative humidity. The quality parameters included rehydration ratio, shrinkage ratio, colour, texture (hardness), bulk density, protein content and overall acceptability. Moisture content of dehydrated mushrooms reduced from 88-90 (% wb) to 6.5 (% wb) for greenhouse drying (28-46°C) in 48 hours and 8.2 (% wb) for open sun drying (25-32°C) in 72 hours. The Lewis model showed best adequacy of fit for drying of mushrooms. The dried mushrooms were packed in two packaging materials viz. LDPE and PP and stored under refrigerated and ambient conditions for three months. The quality attributes of stored product like colour, texture, rehydration ratio, shrinkage ratio, water gain and overall acceptability were evaluated at 15 days interval. The greenhouse dried mushrooms packed in polypropylene (PP) and stored under refrigerated conditions were found to be highly acceptable upto 75 days of storage. Benefit-Cost ratio of 1.36:1 for subsidized greenhouse revealed that it is profitable to dry mushrooms in greenhouse.