1989 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Development of Automated Equipment for Post-harvest Ripening of Agricultural Produce
| Project/Area Number |
63860031
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Developmental Scientific Research
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
農業機械
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
SEO Yasuhisa Univ. of Tokyo Dept. of Ag. Eng. Asso. Prof., 農学部, 助教授 (80011914)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
IMOU Kenji Univ. of Tokyo Dept. of Ag. Eng. Instructor, 農学部, 助手 (40184832)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1988 – 1989
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| Keywords | Banana / Kiwi / Post-harvest ripening / Automatic control / Sugar content / Ethylene / Carbon dioxide |
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| Research Abstract |
The objectives of this study were to develop an automated equipment for artificial ripening of banana and to obtain fundamental data for storage and ripening of kiwi.
A ripening chamber was constructed with a dimension of 1050mmx 700mmx 550 mm. The chamber was consisted of a plastic frame, a plastic film tent and a water conduit surrounding the frame. The tent covered the frame and the lower end of the tent was soaked in the water of the conduit to seal the chamber. Operations needed for artificial ripening such as the ventilation of a chamber and the injection of ethylene(C_2H_4) at the beginning of ripening were automatically controlled. The chamber was ventilated when CO_2 concentration in the chamber rose to 5%. The ventilation was operated with a ultrasonic range finder by draining and filling water in the conduit. The injection of C_2H_4 was made by applying regulated gas led from a gas bomb into the Chamber through a solenoid valve and a needle valve. The opening time of the solenoid valve was controlled by a computer so that the concentration Of C_2H_4 in the chamber became about l000ppm. Ripening temperature was controlled by a total CO_2 rejected by respiration of banana during ripening. Ripening experiments with the developed equipment showed that the equipment worked adequately for automated ripening.
Storage and ripening of kiwi showed that hardness of kiwi was correlated with a total CO_2 evolved by respiration of kiwi during storage and ripening. This result could suggest nondestructive methods for the prediction of maturity of kiwi.
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