Kinetic modeling of quality change in Ethiopian kent mango stored under different temperature

Abstract

Model simulations permit to identify and predict the levels of loss arising under different storage temperature and maturity conditions in the supply chain. In this research kinetic model was developed for predicting relationship between storage temperature and mango quality attributes. Three quality attributes of mango (color, firmness and total soluble solids (TSS)) were measured and used for the kinetic modeling by estimating the parameters of the model. Mangoes were stored at 7, 13 °C and room temperature. The measurements were carried out with eight repetitions at one week intervals. From the tested equations exponential model for color and TSS found to be the best fit and logistic model for firmness. The model parameters were estimated by the simulation and also validated with a separate experiment with acceptable standard errors and minimum confidence interval of 87.58% which means that the variation in the measured data could be explained by the model. After developing the model a ripening stage were assigned from 1 to 5 with the corresponding quality values; where 1 is the mature green and 5 is the over ripe stage. The result shows that softening was the limiting quality factor for mangoes stored at 7 °C and color was the limiting quality factor for mangoes stored at 13 °C and room temperature. Equations used in this research could be used to estimate quality loss at different conditions of mango fruit in the supply chain.