Chung Kee YEH, Hung Yen CHAN

Development of an utomatic monitoring and controlling system for a controlled atmosphere storage of mangos

The main purpose of this study develop an automatic monitoring and controlling system for a controlled atmosphere (CA) storage of mangos. The gas conditions during storage with controlled atmosphere technology were investigated and some improvement schemes were proposed, in order to maintain the quality of the whole packaged mangos. Combined with the existing temperature, humidity and time recording instruments of a storage environment, an automatic detecting and adjusting system of a CA storage of mangos was developed. The gas conditions in a CA storage can be monitored and also were fully controlled. The whole storage process for mangos can be regulated in time by the adjustment of individual gas proportion. In this study, fully ripe mangos were stored at 6% 02 and 4% C02 at 13°C, and compared with mangos stored at 21% 02 and 0.08% C02 at 20°C in the air as a control. Mangos were removed from CA storage one week after storage and different quality parameters were measured by several detectors. The results of this study are the mangos stored in CA storage showed better retention of freshness, color, firmness and flavor as compared to the mangos stored in the air. In addition, the mangos were stored at 6% 02 and 4% C02 at 13°C can obtain best storage quality of mangos. Mangos held in the air were highly unacceptable due to overripe and off-flavor. Therefore, this study of an automatic monitoring and controlling system for a CA storage not only the quality of fruits can be preserved for domestic market, but also these fruits have their international competitiveness when they are exported to other countries.

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