P. R. Davara

The present investigation was undertaken to assess the post-harvest losses and value addition to banana through processing as followed in Gujarat. The effect of various ripening methods on losses was also determined. The study revealed that the overall post-harvest loss in banana after harvesting till ripening was found to be 15.43%, which included losses at field level (0.77%), at traders’ level comprising of transportation and handling losses (5.86%) as well as ripening losses (8.80%). Only negligible losses were observed and reported during the processing of banana. The highest value of actual total loss (16.00%) was observed in case of smoking + room temperature method of ripening, while the lowest loss of 4.66% was observed under the ethephon + air-cooled chamber method. Although, the ethephon + ice treatment method gave ripening loss to the tune of 7.43%, this method was most widely adopted in Gujarat considering its convenience and good appearance of bananas after ripening. The results have emphasized that efforts should be made to adopt improved packaging techniques, cushioning material and refrigeration facilities at the traders’ level during transportation of banana to long distances. It is also recommended from the study that the improved ripening methods like ripening under ethephon + air cooled chamber method should be used during ripening to obtain the good quality banana with the lowest value of losses.

Background: Prickly pear juices are considered as valuable ingredient for sports and energy drinks due to its higher amino acids contents, minerals and attractive red color. Hence, prickly pear fruit has received renewed interest for the production of juice. Up to date, relatively little work has been reported regarding the manufacturing of prickly pear products. Enzyme has proved to be the key element for producing clear and stable fruit juice. The present study aimed to optimize the processing parameters for enzymatic clarification of prickly pear juice. The results of this investigation are expected to provide the suitable process technology for the production of prickly pear juice with better retention of betalain content and color value. Methods: Prickly pear pulp was treated with pectinase enzyme at different concentrations (0.01-0.09%), incubation temperatures (40-60°C) and incubation time (60-180 min). The effect of enzymatic treatments on clarity, color index, betalain cont...

Pigeon pea is mostly consumed in the form of splits and it provides good source of proteins. The pigeon pea grain is considered as most difficult for dehulling as compared to other pulses owing to its seed coat which is more firmly attached with the cotyledons through a layer of gum and mucilage. Pre milling treatments are generally employed to loosen the seed coat to remove husk without losing any edible portion. The effect of four enzymatic hydrolysis parameters, i.e., enzyme concentration (20–60 mg/ 100 g dry matter), incubation time (3-15 h), incubation temperature (40-60 0C) and tempering water pH (4.0-6.0) on hulling efficiency were optimized using response surface methodology. Three enzymes i.e. xylanase, pectinase, and cellulase were used in combination for enzymatic pre treatment. A quadratic model satisfactorily described the dehulling efficiency with high value for the coefficient of determination R2 (0.9062). It predicted a maximum dehulling efficiency of 88.37 % at enzyme concentration; 37.80 mg/100 g dry matter, incubation time, 8.69 min, incubation temperature, 48.48 0C and tempering water pH, 5.49. The results of the predicted optimum conditions were validated experimentally. Dehulling efficiency at optimum condition was observed to be 88.12 % and showed 0.28 % deviation from the predicted values. Results of the study revealed that dehulling efficiency of enzyme treated dhal could be increased 13.81 % compared to the control, i.e., the oil treated sample.

Fully matured fresh guava fruits (Lucknow-49) were precooled at 10 °C for 1 h and pretreated with 500-ppm benomyl for 5 min. The fruits were packed in 25-µm and 50-µm LDPE bags with active modified atmosphere packaging of 3% O2 + 5% CO2, 6% O2 + 5% CO2 and 9% O2 + 5% CO2 gas concentrations and stored at 5 ± 1 °C and 10 ± 1 °C temperatures as well as non-packaged as control. The shelf life of guava could be increased up to 42 days by packaging in 50-µm LDPE bags with a gas concentration of 9% O2 + 5% CO2 and stored at 10 °C without much change in physical, biochemical and sensory characteristics. Physico-chemical changes viz., PLW, pulp to peel ratio, firmness, TSS, total sugar, ascorbic acid and titratable acidity were observed minimum for fruits packed in 50-µm LDPE bags at 3% O2 + 5% CO2 gas concentration at 5 °C storage temperature, but sensory score decreased drastically after 21 days of storage. Chilling injury was observed for the fruits packed at 5 °C storage temperature after 21 days of storage, and it was severe in 25-µm LDPE bag at later stage. Control fruits over-ripened with the highest weight loss (12.47%) on 6 days of storage and discarded from the storage. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The present investigation was undertaken to assess post harvest losses (at field, traders' and processors' level) in Gujarat. The effect of various ripening methods on post harvest losses in five varieties viz., Robusta, Grande Naine, Sona, Mahalaxmi and Shreemanthi were determined. The study revealed that overall post harvest loss in banana after harvesting till ripening was found to be 15.43%, which included losses at field level (0.77%), at trader's level comprising of transportation and handling losses (5.86%) as well as ripening losses (8.80%). Only negligible losses were observed during processing of banana. The highest loss (16.00%) was observed in the case of smoking + room temperature method of ripening, while the lowest (4.66%) was observed under ethephon + air-cooled chamber method. Ethephon + ice treatment method resulted in ripening loss to the tune of 7.43%, but the method was most widely adopted in Gujarat owing to its convenience and better appearance of ...

The present investigation was undertaken to assess the post-harvest losses and value addition to banana through processing as followed in Gujarat. The effect of various ripening methods on losses was also determined. The study revealed that the overall post-harvest loss in banana after harvesting till ripening was found to be 15.43%, which included losses at field level (0.77%), at traders’ level comprising of transportation and handling losses (5.86%) as well as ripening losses (8.80%). Only negligible losses were observed and reported during the processing of banana. The highest value of actual total loss (16.00%) was observed in case of smoking + room temperature method of ripening, while the lowest loss of 4.66% was observed under the ethephon + air-cooled chamber method. Although, the ethephon + ice treatment method gave ripening loss to the tune of 7.43%, this method was most widely adopted in Gujarat considering its convenience and good appearance of bananas after ripening. T...

Extraction of pectin from Kesar mango peel, a waste from mango canning and food processing industries, was carried out using cation exchange resin as an extracting medium. The effect of peel to extracting medium ratio and extraction temperature on yield and recovery of pectin was studied. Cation exchange resin was found to be the best extracting medium for extraction of pectin from mango peels. Maximum yield of pectin was obtained by taking two extractions each for one-hour duration employing a peel to extracting medium ratio of 1:4 (w:w), extraction temperature of 80 °C and at pH of 2.56. Using the optimum extracting conditions, about 14.78% (DWB) of purified pectin was obtained from mango peels which gave the recovery of 96.32%. The jelly grade of the pectin was found to be 170 at the optimized condition.

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is one of the important tropical and subtropical fruit in the world, originated in Mexico as a cross between two species of the genus Carica. India is one of the leading producers of papaya, contributing around 43% in the world production in 2016 (Anon., 2018). Gujarat stands at second position in the country and the total Production of papaya in Gujarat was about 12.07 lakh MT with a cultivated area of 0.19 lakh hectares during the year 2018-19 (Anon., 2019). In Gujarat, the Honey Dew, Washington, Pusa Dwarf and Taiwan are the major cultivars grown. Papaya is a wonderful source of antioxidants such as vitamin C, carotenes and flavonoids; vitamin B, pantothenic acid, folate; minerals, like potassium, magnesium and iron and fiber. Papaya can be made into jam, jelly, nectar, dried into slabs, canned in the form of slice and the fruit powder. The total postharvest loss of papaya worked out to 25.49% (Gajanana et al., 2010).

Wheat is the most important mainly due to its use in the flour production. An experiment was conducted to study the feasibility of evaporative water cooled grinding for wheat flour production. Wheat was mixed with water (0%, 3%, 6% and 9% w/w) and grinded immediately using domestic hammer mill before the surface water penetrated into the grain. The different grinding characteristics were studied for the grinding operation. This process resulted in cooling since the evaporating particles carried away the heat generated inside the grinding mill resulting in decrease of the temperature of the system. The temperature during grinding was found to be decreased by 11°C under for the sample wetted with 9% (w/w) of water as compared to conventional grinding. No sieve clogging was observed during evaporative water cooled grinding. Grinding time was observed to be increased by 155 sec for the evaporative water cooled ground sample. This study revealed that the evaporative water cooled grinding...

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L.) is one of the important pulse crops of India contributing 20.87% to the total production of all pulses. Pigeon pea grains contain about 20–22% protein and appreciable amounts of essential amino acids and minerals. Several grain characteristics play an important role in determining the dehulling quality. Different properties of pigeon pea grain (BDN 2), namely size, in terms of length, breath and thickness; sphericity; bulk density; porosity; true density; angle of repose and static coefficient of friction against different surfaces were determined at 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30% (d.b.) moisture content. The average of length, width and thickness of grains increased from 6.05 to 6.32 mm, 5.43 to 5.63 mm and 4.64 to 4.71 mm, respectively. The size and thousand grains mass increased from 5.337 to 5.510 mm and 97.90 to 116.83 g, respectively. The sphericity, bulk density and true density decreased from 0.883 to 0.871, 872 to 814 kg/m3 and 1353 to 1307 kg/m3, resp...

Extruded snacks are a growing segment of the corn-based market. Extrusion-cooking technology is used in the food industry for the production of variety types of foodstuffs. Extrusion cooking is a short time, high temperature and high shear process. The extrusion process is carried out on devices known as extruders. Products undergo starch gelatinization, so the extrudates are already precooked and do not require additional cooking. Twin screw was used in the experiment. The flour is incorporated with weighed carrot paste as per the level mentioned by software. Both are mixed well and sieved. This mixture is then introduced to the feeder of extruder machine. The barrel temperature and feeder temperature were kept constant throughout process, while die temperature and screw speed were changed according to the mentioned treatment. The products were also evaluated for its physical as well as sensory characteristics. The result data were processed as per Response Surface Methodology (RSM...

The present investigation was undertaken to assess post harvest losses (at field, traders' and processors' level) in Gujarat. The effect of various ripening methods on post harvest losses in five varieties viz., Robusta, Grande Naine, Sona, Mahalaxmi and Shreemanthi were determined. The study revealed that overall post harvest loss in banana after harvesting till ripening was found to be 15.43%, which included losses at field level (0.77%), at trader's level comprising of transportation and handling losses (5.86%) as well as ripening losses (8.80%). Only negligible losses were observed during processing of banana. The highest loss (16.00%) was observed in the case of smoking + room temperature method of ripening, while the lowest (4.66%) was observed under ethephon + air-cooled chamber method. Ethephon + ice treatment method resulted in ripening loss to the tune of 7.43%, but the method was most widely adopted in Gujarat owing to its convenience and better appearance of ...

Wheat is the main food cereal of our daily diet. It is consumed mostly in the form of flour. Many milling methods have been developed for grinding of wheat. Stone and roller mills are the two prime methods used for grinding whole grains (Kent and Evers, 1994). Stone mills are being utilized from the ancient times for making whole grain flours. In this method, wheat kernels are grinded between two stones under the combined action of compression, shear, and abrasion (Kihlberg et al., 2004). In the roler mill process, wheat is passed through a series of corrugated and smooth rollers accompanied by sifting between stages.

Cooking quality of dehusked splits is influenced by the dehulling method, in particular, by the pre-milling treatments. The effects of four enzymatic hydrolysis parameters, i.e., enzyme concentration (20–60 mg/100 g dry matter), incubation time (3-15 h), incubation temperature (40-60oC) and tempering water pH (4.0-6.0) on cooking time of pigeon pea dhal were optimized using response surface methodology. Three kinds of enzymes, i.e., xylanase, pectinase, and cellulas were used in combination for enzymatic pre-treatment. A quadratic model satisfactorily described the dehulling efficiency with high value for the coefficient of determination R2 (0.9062). It predicted a minimum cooking time of 21.91 min at enzyme concentration of 37.8 mg/100 g dry matter, incubation time 8.69 min, incubation temperature 48.5oC and pH 5.49 of tempering water. Cooking time at optimum condition was observed to be 21.50 min and the predicted values of cooking time showed 2.19% deviation from the experimental...