Soffie CheriyanAnjana VKAU2019-05-022019-05-021998171405http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810101621PGThe storage efficiency of zero energy cool chamber under local conditions was assessed by studying the physical, physiological, chemical and microbial changes on storage and shelf life of five vegetables viz. amaranthus, bhindi, bittergourd, brinjal and snakegourd. Storage system namely walk-in-cooler, zero energy cool chamber, sprinkling water, covering with leaves and open storage were experimented with vegetables from two sources viz. Instructional Farm (research station) and local farm at two seasons. The results obtained on physical quality changes of vegetables such as appearance, colour and texture due to storage revealed lesser rate of changes in these physical parameters with vegetables stored under walk – in –cooler followed by zero energy cool chamber compared to storage by other common methods namely sprinkling water, covering with leaves and open basket storage. Among the low cost methods of storage zero energy cool chamber was found to be most effective and its efficiency was found at almost comparable to the refrigerated and high cost oriented method walk-in –cooler in preserving the freshness of vegetables. The physiological loss in weight was found to be minimum in vegetables stored in walk- in –cooler. Use of zero energy cool chamber was significantly effective in checking weight loss during storage. The percentage loss in weight of vegetables was high in the other three methods particularly the open storage. The chemical factors assessed include moisture, total mineral, fibre and ascorbic acid content of fresh as well as stored samples. The results gave higher moisture, total mineral and ascorbic acid retention in walk-in-cooler stored vegetables followed by that of zero energy cool chamber. The efficiency of zero energy cool chamber was found to be much higher compared to the remaining three low cost and simple storage methods. Increase in fibre content was minimum in walk- in –cooler and cool chamber. Higher concentration of fibre was noticed in sprinkling water method, covering with leaf and open storage. Thus it can be clearly stated that next to walk-in-cooler zero energy cool chamber efficient to check the changes occurring in all the chemical parameter on storage. Inspite of increased relative humidity inside the chamber there was no microbial spoilage observed in vegetables stored under zero energy cool chamber during the study period. Fungal attack was noticed in water sprinkled vegetables. Shelf life duration of vegetables was considerably more in zero energy cool chamber as against lesser days in atmospheric temperature storage. Thus the possibility to extend the storage days of vegetables by adopting the zero energy cool chamber method is clearly indicated. The maximum and minimum temperature inside the chamber was much below the ambient conditions. The relative humidity inside the chamber was higher than atmospheric humidity. It was also observed that the seasonal fluctuation in temperature and relative humidity was very narrow in respect to fluctuation observed in the atmosphere during the two seasons, promising a fairly steady storage effect. Popularisation of zero energy cool chamber as a low cost storage device was carried out among selected vegetable growers of the locality through a one day education programme including demonstration. An evaluation conducted revealed that the local farmers also were totally unaware of low cost storage techniques to reduce post – harvest lossess were able to learn scientific aspects of many of the low cost storage methods including use of zero energy cool chamber. Practical and theoretical informations regarding the construction and operation of the storage device were well grasped by the participants. Their responses in general was very encouraging and most of them have evinced a keen interest in collecting more information. The views of the respondents enlightened that they are highly supportive of the effectiveness of zero energy cool chamber eventhough few respondents felt that this operation and maintenance procedure in time consuming. In our country commercial cold storage are yet to make as an aid in large scale preservation of perishables because of heavy costs incurred . Thus the importance of a low cost cooking technology for horticultural crop meeting the requirements of rural conditions for prolonging the shelf- life of fresh produce is keenly felt. The investigation threw light on the efficiency of zero energy cool chamber as a low cost technology for short term storage of vegetables that is highly feasible under the climatic conditions of Kerala. The local vegetable growers expressed their interest in using this simple low cost method as a result of popularization of the device among them.ennullThesis