Evaluation of different storage environments of solar refrigerated evaporatively cooled structure on quality of leafy vegetables

Abstract

Considering the increasing shelf life of leafy vegetables, the most important factor to keep the quality is refrigerated storage. The spinach and lettuce under refrigeration and specific relative humidity just after harvest provide decreased breathing by water loss, which affects the addition to weight, total soluble solids, texture, and color. This study aimed to investigate the effect of storage conditions on the shelf life of refrigerated spinach and lettuce. The samples were stored in solar refrigerated evaporatively cooled (SREC) structure, and three storage conditions were taken as ambient, T4, and T8. Quality parameters were studied during the storage study. Physiological weight loss in spinach varied from 0 to 22.80%, and for lettuce, it varied from 0 to 20.52% during 14 days of storage. We recorded the maximum bursting strength of the spinach and lettuce at 1.74 N and 1.73 N, respectively. The leafy vegetables can be stored for up to 14 days, and T4 storage condition is very effective for maintaining the quality and shelf life of lettuce and spinach.