HO-2672 -- Transpiration Rates of Stored Perishable Commodities: A Mathematical Model and Experiments on Tomatoes PDF

Moisture loss due to transpiration is a major factor affecting loss of of fresh fruits and weight and quality vegetables in refrigerated storage. Development of a satisfactory method for prediction of moisture loss in stored commodities would assist greatly in the design of storage facilities and scheduling of refrigerated shipments. A review of related literature by Sastry et al indicates that available data regarding transpiration coefficients are scant and often conflicting.18 Experimental methods for transpiration coefficient determination are numerous and diverse, resulting in a wide range of values for the same commodity. In many cases, important variables are given inadequate consideration.

This paper deals with development and experimental verification of a mathematical model applicable to commodities of approximately spherical shape, possessing uniform and largely impervious skins. Several commercially important products, such as apples, tomatoes, cherries, and peaches possess these properties, making the model applicable to a wide variety of fruits. Due to the large number of variables involved, experimentation has been limited to tomatoes (FTE-12) only.