ENGINEERING FACTORS AFFECTING HANDLING PROCESSES FOR STRAWBERRY FRUITS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to find out engineering factors (physical characteristics, and evaluate affecting strawberry fruits quality for appraise the domestic and international marketing demands). The experiment consists of manufacturing and evaluation a vibrational equipment to find energy levels of the transportation process, which was Energy Spectral Density "ESD", levels of fruit crate from the vibrational table, air bubble pad and ultraviolet "UV-C" light dose. Results revealed, Energy acquired the fruits during transport 1204 J/kg, the modulus of elasticity values were 1.36 and 1.21 N/mm2 and firmness were 1.77 and 1.41 N/mm for festival and Fortuna strawberry cultivars resp. The fruit bruising percent was 7 and 7.3% for festival and Fortuna cultivars. the percent of bruising increased by 25%. The use of two-air bubble pads below fruits reduce exposure of the fruits of deterioration by 37.6 to 21.6%. Use dose 3 kJ/m2 of UV-C light of good solidarity fruits, which led to increased resistance the fruits. Keywords: Transportation process, Power spectral density, UV-C light, Firmness, Strawberry, Quality, Postharvest, Damage Vibration, Storability.