+44-7897-074717Michael Asrat Kassa, Tigist Leykun Senay*, Tesfaye Mekuriyaw Tegegne and Yemane Negash Kassa
Postharvest loss of fruit and vegetables is significant in developing countries and the major problem is lack of appropriate storage system. Evaporative cooling is the cheapest and effective way of cooling storage structure compared with commercial cold storage, which is expensive and inapplicable in rural areas without electricity. Two direct evaporative coolers Zero energy cooling chamber (ZECC) and pot in pot refrigerator (PIP) were constructed and evaluated for their capacity in reducing environmental temperature and extending postharvest life of tomato fruit. The shelf life of tomato was evaluated through weight loss and temperature measurement. Zero energy cooling chamber was effective in reducing environmental temperature from 32 oC to 10 oC and extended the shelf life of ripe tomato fruit from 6 days to 15 days. Pot in pot refrigerator was found cheaper and more effective by reducing environmental temperature from 35 oC to 8 oC and extending ripe tomato from 6 days to 15 days. More effective evaporation can be achieved through optimizing the design of evaporative cooler and both evaporative colors are more effective when atmospheric temperature rises.
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