SILVA, M. A.; ROCHA, J. L. V.
Abstract:
The post-harvesting physiology of vegetables has deai^
sive influence on the matabolic processes and on the conservati
on of these products related to their qualities for comsumption
"in natura" or industrial processing.
The biological and biochemical transformations have al
ready been verified after harvesting. During the maturation me
tabolism, such as respiration, the variatins of soluble solids,
acidity and some physical modifications as loss of weight and
specific weight, ocurring in tomatoes, cucumbers, chayotes,
squashes and eggplants, have been studied in this work. The ef
fects of external factors, such as temperature and relative hu
midity, related to the conservation of the studied products ha
ve been considered during the development of this research. The
environmental temperature reanged from 25 to 28°C and the rela
tive humiditu from 65 to 70%. For the controlled conditions va
ried from 8 to 13°C according to the vegetal sample studied, and the relative humidity was maintained constant about 85-90%
The results showed that, at controlled conditions of
low temperature and high relative humidity} the period of con
servation of all the products was extended to more than two ti
mes, when compared to environmental conditions. The contents
of soluble solids increased during the post-harvesting metabo
lism, while the acidity decreased. The loss of weight at env~t
ronmental conditions was greater for all products studied.
