Effects of Pre-Treatment and Temperature On The Quality and Drying Rate of Tomatoes
Effects of Pre-Treatment and Temperature On The Quality and Drying Rate of Tomatoes
Effects of Pre-Treatment and Temperature On The Quality and Drying Rate of Tomatoes
1. Introduction
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brought seeds of their favourite vegetables with them. Some of them including
tomato have become very important in the African diet.
Generally, vegetables are believed to play an important role in human
nutrition in supplying vitamins and other essential nutrients. In addition to this,
several studies have shown that vegetables also supply some amount of
carbohydrate, protein and energy (Madavi and Salunkhe, 1998; Babalola et al.,
2010). Like other vegetables, tomato has been found to contain a substantial
amount of vitamins and other essential nutrients. It has been found from various
studies that tomato contains between 90% and 95% moisture content and
ascorbic acid of about 25mg/100g edible portion (Bencini, 1991; Bello, 1999; Igwe,
1999). Bencini (1991) also reported that tomato contains 1% protein, 0.2% fat,
4.8% carbohydrate, 0.6% fibre, 0.5% ash. Another important constituent of
tomato fruit is lycopene which is the pigment that gives tomato its red colour
(Darrigues et al., 2008).
Fruits and vegetables are seasonal products and they are highly perishable
products because they respire actively (Anghel, 2010; Adegoke and Moyosade,
1987). Similarly, tomato is highly perishable in its natural form. Storage life of
this fruit is short and considerable losses are encountered during its handling,
transportation and storage ( Madavi and Salunkhe, 1998; Bello, 1999). According
to FAO (1989), most fresh fruits and vegetables have a storage life of only a few
days under even the best environmental conditions. Also, tomato and other fruits
are seasonal crops. When they are in season, there is usually a surplus of the
product and since they are perishable crops, excess produce go to waste. Hence,
there is need to extend the storage life of these crops and make them available
even when they are not in season. Therefore it is of utmost importance to find
ways of preserving and storing tomato while still retaining its nutrients.
In this study, the effects of temperature and pre-treatment on the drying rate
and quality of tomato were investigated. The study focuses on the determination
of the effect of drying temperature, boiling and blanching on the drying rate and
vitamin C content of dried tomato.
Experimental Design
In order to achieve the objectives of this study, a 3 5 factorial experiment in
a randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used. In the design, five (5)
levels of temperature (T), and three (3) levels of treatment (t) was used. The
temperatures used are 50, 55, 60, 650C, and 700C. These temperatures were used
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based on the findings of Andritosis et al. (2003) and Gracia et al. (2010) that the
best drying temperatures for tomato are low temperatures between 450C and
700C. Some of the tomatoes were pre-treated by blanching before drying, some
cooked/boiled while some were dried in their natural state. According to Talented
(2010), blanching brightens the colour, softens the texture and has little effect on
nutrient content or flavour of tomato as it is a relatively short process. Each test
run was replicated (R) thrice making a total of 45 test runs. The experiment was
carried out in Nigeria Stored Product Research Institute (NSPRI), Ilorin.
Sample Preparation
Fresh, firm and ripe tomato fruits (Figure 1) were bought from Ipata market
in Ilorin, kwara State Nigeria. According to Madhavi and Salunkhe (1998),
nutritional constituents of tomato are at their peak when the fruit is at its red ripe
stage therefore, tomatoes to be used for processing should be fully mature in
order to optimize various quality parameters. Roma, a red, round and thick skinned
variety was used for the experiment. The tomato fruits were washed and sliced
into a uniform slice thickness of 5 mm (Figure 2). Preliminary investigation and the
study of Bello, (1999) revealed that drying tomato without deseeding causes
discolouration. Hence, the sliced tomato was deseeded as done by Bello (1999).
The total sample was divided into three parts. One part was dried in its natural
form; one part was boiled before drying while the last part was blanched before
drying.
Boiling was achieved by pouring sliced samples in 1000ml of boiling water
and was allowed to boil for 3 minutes. The boiled samples were drained on wire
gauze for 5minutes. 200 grams of the drained sample was measured and used for
the experiment. Blanching was achieved by soaking the samples in water at 900C
for three (3) minutes as described by Talented (2010). This is expected to
minimise enzymatic action which can cause loss of flavour, colour and texture. The
blanched samples were then drained on wire gauze for 5minutes. 200g of drained
sample was measured and used for the experiment. For a control experiment,
200g of the sliced tomato samples was measured and arranged in the dryer as
shown in Figure 3.
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Figure 1. Fresh tomatoes.
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Figure 3. Arrangement of tomatoes on the trays in the dryer
Drying Procedure
The dryer was pre-heated to the desired temperature by means of the tem-
perature regulator while the samples were being prepared to ensure stability of the
condition of the drying chamber when the samples will be introduced. The trays
were labelled with tags of the different treatments. The samples were weighed at
an interval of 1 hour with a weighing balance and the weights were recorded. This
was done until there was no more moisture removal from the samples and this
was achieved when the average moisture content was 5%. The procedure was
repeated for the samples at all temperature levels.
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Experimental Measurements and Analysis
The output parameters that were determined are the optimum temperature,
optimum drying time for the crop to reach a safe moisture level, and the hourly
drying rate in the dryer. Also, the chemical analysis of vitamin C content was
carried out.
Quantitative Analysis
(i) Drying Rate
This refers to the rate of moisture removal during the drying process. It was
obtained by measuring the weight of samples as drying took place. Drying rate can
be expressed mathematically as:
, (1)
Where, W1= weight of product before drying
W2= weight of product after drying
T= drying time
DR1= rate of moisture removal (g/hr)
Drying Rate can also be expressed as:
, (2)
Where M1= initial moisture content of product
M2= final moisture content of product
T= drying time
DR2= rate of moisture removal (g/hr) (Marcin and Lund, 2003)
Qualitative Analysis
(i) Determination of Vitamin C Content
The vitamin C content of the dried tomatoes was analysed in the chemistry
laboratory of the Nigerian Stored Product Research Institute (NSPRI) Ilorin Kwara
state Nigeria using the procedure described in the AOAC (1999) manual.
The procedure involved the addition aliquots of 100ml prepared juice to
equal volume of HPO3HOAC solution to a total volume of Vml. Aliquot of prepared
solution containing about 2mg of ascorbic acid was pipette into a conical flask. This
was titrated against 2,6-dichloroindophenol in the burette to a light but distinct
rose pink. Blank determination was made using HPO3 HOAC solution and water.
The vitamin C content was determined using the calculation below.
Where,
T=Average titre value for sample
b=Average titre value for blank
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F=mg Ascorbic Acid equivalent to 1.0ml indephanol solution
E=Number of g or mg assayed
V=Volume (ml) of initial assay solution
Y=Volume (ml) of sample aliquot titrated
Blanched 50 17.270.00
55 18.970.05
60 20.850.06
65 20.890.00
70 23.880.00
Boiled 50 17.360.09
55 18.970.05
60 21.000.11
65 20.900.13
70 23.960.07
*Each value is the mean of the three replicates standard deviation
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Figure 5. Effect of Pre-treatment on Drying Rate at different Drying Temperature
Table 3. Duncan Multiple Range Test for the Effect of Drying Temperature on
Drying Rate*
Drying Temperature (0C) Drying Rate (g/hr)
50 17.28d
55 18.96c
60 20.94b
65 20.89b
70 23.91a
*Means with the same letters are not significantly different at P 0.05 using
Duncan Multiple Range Test
Vitamin C Content
Table 4 shows the summary of the data obtained for Vitamin C content of the
dried tomato. From the ANOVA (Table 5), it can be observed that the effect of the
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drying temperature and pre-treatment were significant on the Vitamin C content at
95% confidence interval while the interaction between the two factors were not
significant on the vitamin C content of the dried tomatoes.
Blanched 50 10.973.45
55 12.471.44
60 14.131.80
65 13.960.50
70 15.961.33
Boiled 50 9.720.94
55 10.172.87
60 12.943.77
65 12.891.04
70 15.960.76
*Each value is the mean of the three replicates standard deviation
Table 5. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for the Effect of Pre-Treatment (P) and
Temperature (T) on Vitamin C Content
S.V D.F S.S M.S F
The observations from Figure 6 above were further confirmed using Duncan
New Multiple Range Test (shown in Table 6) to compare the means. From the
table, it can be seen that the raw sample had the highest vitamin C content
followed by the blanched samples and boiled samples in descending order. The
table also shows that vitamin C content of boiled samples and blanched samples
are not appreciably different from each other. This is similar to the findings of
Babalola et al. (2007) who discovered that vitamin C content of leafy vegetables is
lost due to various processing methods such as blanching and boiling.
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agreement with the claims of Graciaet al. (2010), Talented, (2010) and Babalolaet
al., (2007).
Table: 7. Duncan Multiple Range Test for the effect of temperature on vitamin C
content
4. Conclusion
References
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[11] Marcin K., Lund B., Physical Principles of Food Preservation. 2003, Pp.
379 446.
[12] Omodara M.A., Effects of Some Drying Parameters on Drying Rate and
Quality of African Catfish. M.Eng. Project Report.Department of Agricul-
tural and Biosystems Engineering, 2011, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nige-
ria (unpublished).
Addresses:
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