Abstract:
The freshly harvested vegetables tend to deteriorate rapidly due to rapid evapotranspiration and
rate of respiration unless proper storage conditions are practiced. Thus, the objective of this study
is to identify the importance of the temperature and relative humidity (RH) of the storage condition
for the variation of physical and organoleptic properties of Capsicum annum (green Chili) and
Phaseolus vulgaris (Green Bean). The selected green vegetables were stored at two storage
conditions (In-house; 30.0±0.6°C & RH;78.8±3.6% and Cold-humidified; 3°C lower than the inhouse condition & RH; =95%). The samples were analyzed for variation of sensory attributes
(appearance and overall acceptability), cumulative weight loss, and the visible colour (L*,a*,b*)
with respect to storage condition for a period of 4-5 days. According to sensorial properties of
selected vegetables, samples stored under in-house and cold-humidified condition were
significantly different (p<0.05). The cold-humidified condition had gained the highest preference
in evaluated sensory attributes throughout the testing period. The cumulative weight loss resulted
at the end of the studied period of C. annum and P. vulgaris with respect to, in-house and coldhumidified condition were 2.0431 ± 1.2082 & 0.6889 ± 0.0755g and 2.4720 ± 0.9016 & 1.2615 ±
0.3575g respectively. Therefore, samples stored under cold-humidified condition had lower
cumulative weight loss throughout the study. The L*, a* & b* value variation of C. annum with
regard to in-house and cold-humidified condition during the study period were 33.0-41.2, -10.1 to
-4.6 & 21.2-29.9 and 32.9-31.6, -10.2 to -9.3 & 19.6-27.0 respectively. The L \ a* & b* values of
P. vulgaris varied with respect to in-house and cold-humidified condition at initial, after 42 and 93
hours as L* varied 38.3±0.1, 57.4±0.9 & 65.4±1.3 and 41,2±0.4,57.2±1.1 & 57.3±0.1 respectively;
a* varied -6.2±0.3, -8.3±0.5 & -6.2±1.0 and -6.3±0.7, -8.2±0.8 & -8.3±0.5 respectively; b* varied
19.9±0.9,24.3±0.8 & 27.5±0.4 and 19.7±1.3,24.1±0.1 & 26.2±0.4 respectively. Hence, the visible
green colour loss, yellowness and lightness increment were lower in selected vegetables stored
under cold-humidified condition than in-house condition. Thus, this study has proved that cooling
with the humidified condition is effective for storing green vegetables.
