Influence of storage conditions on quality and shelf life of stored peas

Introduction

According to Pawar et al. (2017) [4] , it is the second most significant legume crop worldwide. The dried, green foliage is fed to cattle, and the very nutritious green pods are chosen for cooking. For every 100 g of edible part, this legume has a high percentage of digestible protein (7.2 g), carbohydrates (15.8 g), Vitamin A (139 I.U.), vitamin C (9 mg), Magnesium (34 mg), and Phosphorus (139 mg). An essential component of contemporary agricultural output is appropriate postharvest processing and handling. Harvesting, cleaning, grading, cooling, storing, packaging, transportation, and selling are all interconnected postharvest operations. The gap between the producer and the consumer, which is frequently caused by time and distance, is filled by postharvest handling technologies. In order to overcome issues, postharvest handling requires the practical application of engineering principles and an understanding of the physiology of fruits and vegetables (Fasana, 2006) [1] . Fresh fruit and vegetable postharvest losses are caused by a variety of circumstances. These include unfavorable postharvest sanitation, inadequate cooling and environmental control, mechanical damage sustained during harvesting and handling, and environmental factors like heat or drought. The incidence of disease is frequently greatly decreased by attempts to regulate these factors. For instance, since many disease-causing organisms (pathogens) must enter through wounds, minimizing mechanical damage during grading and packaging significantly reduces the incidence of postharvest disease (Fasana, 2006) [1] . How to preserve fresh vegetable products to feed a growing population is a problem for decision-makers in many countries. There have been numerous efforts in the past. Vegetable goods are challenging to preserve commercially due to transportation networks and high temperatures that encourage deterioration rather than storage. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess how traditional storage conditions affected the quality and shelf life of three cultivars of peas.

Materials and Methods

Plant material: Garden Pea pods were got from fields established specifically for the purpose of this experiment on the experimental grounds of the Department of Horticulture, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru. Geographically, the place is located at 13 0 05" N latitude and 77 0 34" E longitude with an altitude of 924 meters above mean sea level. The land had been under tomato and pepper cultivation in the previous year. The area during cultivation had average of 21.3°C temperature and relative humidity of 85%.

Peas namely Green Pea (Pisum sativum), were used. NPK Farm Yard Manure: 10 t/ha, NPK: Nitrogen @ 25 kg/ha, Phosphorous @75 kg/ha, Potassium @ 50 kg/ha., all other agronomic practices for the growth of crop follows essentially that used Pre-planting soil analyses showed the soil to contain nitrogen 0.03%, Organic matter 0.03%, available P 0.24 g kg¹, potassium 0.14%, calcium 0.52%, pH of 6.4 to 6.8. and a sandy loam texture. Fresh Garden peas were harvested at right maturity stage. Harvesting was done early in the morning and transported to laboratory in poly bags for furthering the experimentation. Then, Garden peas were packed in different packaging treatments, each pack contained 200 g of garden peas. Packed Garden peas were then stored under normal room and refrigerated (7 °C) conditions. Each pack of Garden peas was kept undisturbed until the scheduled date of observation.

Storage treatment: Shrink wrap (Polyfilm) & Aluminium foil wrap obtained from local market of Bangalore were used for packaging the pods of Garden Pea Varieties. Storage conditions were utilized with 3 treatment conditions T 1: Control (No package + Room condition), T 2: (Aluminium foil wrap + Room condition), T 3: (Shrink wraps (Polyfilm) + Refrigerated condition) with 15 cultivars RH within the bag was maintained at >95%. Each group of bags was held separately in a commercially available 580×720×155 mm vented plastic container and the containers were stalked in the appropriate storage condition in the dark. No free water accumulated in the bags during storage. Tender Peas, for each treatment stored under different packaging condition were observed for their storability. There were 9 packs, each containing 200 g of Garden peas for each treatment under different packaging treatment. All the Garden peas removed from each package on scheduled day of observation were used to record different observations. Thus, each pack in the storage condition, passed through the storage time undisturbed, until it was finally taken-out to observe for different parameters. Samples from each treatment were examined at the end of every third day. This way, storage studies were conducted for 15 days.

The following parameters were recorded when storage samples were opened.

Statistical analyses:

This was done using the Factorial RCBD design with three replicates per treatment. There were combinations of storage conditions with 3 treatment conditions T 1: Control (No package + Room condition), T 2: (Aluminium foil wrap + Room condition), T 3: (Shrink wraps (Polyfilm) + Refrigerated condition) with 15 cultivars Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used to compare the means at 5% probability. Observations were recorded for various Physical Parameters for Colour, Estimation of T.S.S and Biochemical parameters and Sensory evaluation (5-point hedonic scale).

Appearance of wrinkles (recorded based on score card)

Sensory scores of appearances of wrinkles of garden pea were carried out by a semi-trained panel consisting of students of Department of Horticulture, UAS, Bengaluru, with the help of five-point hedonic rating scale (1 = Like Extremely; 2= Like Very Much; 3= Like Moderately; 4=Like Slightly; 5 =Neither Like nor Dislike).

Results and Discussion

Total Soluble Solids ( o Brix) in Unpacked Storage Under Room condition Significant differences were observed for TSS ( o Brix) in unpacked storage under room condition (Table 1). From the two seasons pooled mean, higher T.S.S content was recorded in T 9 (Arka Karthik) during 3 rd , 6 From the two seasons pooled mean, it was observed that higher T.S.S content ( 0 Brix) on 3 rd , 6 th, 9 th day of storage was recorded in Arka Karthik. It was noticed that under unpacked storage under room condition, there was gradual increase in T.S.S content with increase in the period of storage. The T.S.S content ( o Brix) increased from 13.20 o Brix to 23.40 o Brix. Significant differences in T.S.S content under room condition could be due to temperatures that might have prevailed during storage. It was noticed that T.S.S content increased rapidly at room temperature. Increase in TSS levels during storage period could be due to the ripening process. These findings take supported from the research results of by Malik, and Jitender, (2009) [2] , in Peas.

Total soluble Solid ( o Brix) in packed (Shrink wrapping) storage under refrigerated condition

Significant differences between the treatments T.S.S ( 0 Brix)

were obtained for packed (shrink wrapping) storage under refrigerated condition. The data are presented in Table 2.

From the two seasons pooled mean, it was observed that higher T.S.S was recorded in T 9 (Arka Karthik) on 3 .03 0 Brix). However, among the interaction between the treatments, higher T.S.S (21.77 0 Brix) was observed in S 1 T 10, S 2 T 10 (20.85), S 1 T 9 (20.12) and S 2 T 9 (20.85) which were on par with each other while the lowest T.S.S ( 0 Brix) was noticed in (12.07) in S 2 T 15 at 3 rd day of storage and there was gradual increase in T.S.S ( 0 Brix) until the end of the storage period.

References

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