الملخص الإنجليزي
One-third of all food produced globally is lost due to postharvest losses. Transportation
is particularly essential to distribute fresh produce during postharvest supply chain, but
the effect of vibration, duration and distance during transport can cause high internal
and surface damage to fresh produce. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate postharvest
losses in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) during transportation in the Sultanate of
Oman and to develop a mathematical model to estimate the whole changes in tomato
quality as affected by transportation and storage. Tomato was transported from three
different distances (100 km, 154 km and 205 km) from local farm and delivered to the
laboratory to undergo physical, chemical and nutritional quality analysis. Tomato was
stored at two different temperature (10°C and 22°C) for 12 days. During transport, 3-
Axis USB Vibration/Acceleration Data Logger was used to record the data related to
vibration. Two factorial balanced analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of
regression were performed using SPSS software. The results of vibration showed that
the maximum number of peaks was found mostly in the acceleration interval of 0.99-
1.17 g. Over 40% of accelerations occurred in the range of 0.82-1.31g of all transport
distances. Laboratory experiment showed that all physical quality analysis like weight
loss and firmness were highly affected by transport distance, storage temperature and
storage period. The reduction in weight loss and firmness was the highest in tomato
transported from the longest distance and stored at 22°C with 6.91% and 58.39%
respectively. Lightness, yellowness and hue values showed a high reduction as
transport distance increase particularly in tomato stored at 22°C. In addition, redness,
total color change and color indices (CI and COL) increased significantly on tomato
transported from 205 km and stored at both storage temperatures. Regarding chemical
analysis, pH, total soluble solid (TSS) and sugar:acid ratio were largely affected by
storage condition and duration but not by transporting distance. However, titratable
acidity was significantly affected by all investigated factors. Titratable acidity (TA) was
lower in tomato transported form the longest distance and stored at 22°C with 0.25%
followed by 0.26% in tomato transported from medium and short distance. Lycopene
and carotenoids were highly affected by all studied factors. The highest amount of both
lycopene and carotenoids was observed in tomato transported from long distance at
22°C on day12 with 1.21 mg.100g-1FW and 1.55 mg.100g-1FW respectively. Zeroorder and first-order models used to describe physical, chemical and nutritional quality
changes during storage. Experimental data of weight loss from all distances at both
storage conditions for 12 days was highly fitted to zero-order model. The appropriate
model used to describe total soluble solid, sugar/acid ratio, carotenoids and lycopene
was zero-order model. To reduce the amount of postharvest losses during transport,
temperature and other appropriate facilities during and after transportation need to be
managed.
