Assessment of the Quality Losses of Fresh Fig Fruits during Transportation

Abstract

Turkey is one of the main fig fruits producers in the World. The protection of the fig fruit quality in the chains from harvesting to marketing is very important. Vibration often causes some damages to perishable fruits in transportation and reduces their quality. The fruit injury due to vibration is related to the transportation characteristics of vehicles, packaging boxes and the conditions of the roads. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of packaging box by different materials to decrease the damages of vertical vibration on the quality of three fresh fig varieties (Yediveren, Sarilop and Bursa Black) during transportation. The experiments were carried out in two stages. In the first stage; the frequency and acceleration values of truck were determined during the real transportation. In the second stage, these values were applied on the simulator (shaker) to examine the effect of vibration on fresh figs packaged with three different boxes. The results showed that the cardboard packaging box was not proper for transporting of the fresh fig fruits in all road conditions. The mass loss of fresh fig fruits packed with cardboard box were found to be 2.5 times more than extruded and expanded polystyrene boxes at 16 Hz frequency and 2.54 m s-2 acceleration. Sarilop fig variety was more damaged under the off-road. For long highway road conditions, Bursa Black fig variety was found the most affected fig variety. 

Keywords

• Fig
• Packaging
• Polystyrene
• Quality
• Transport
• Vibration

Taze Đncir Meyvesinin Taşınması Sırasında Oluşan Kalite Kaybının Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

Türkiye, incir üretimiyle Dünyanın önemli üreticilerinden birisidir. Đncirin kalitesinin korunması hasattan pazara kadar büyük önem arz etmektedir. Titreşim çoğunlukla hassas meyvelere zarar vermekte ve kalitesini düşürmektedir. Titreşim nedeniyle oluşan hasarlar, taşıma yapan aracın karakteristiklerine, paketlemeye ve yol koşularına bağlı olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, üç çeşit taze incir meyvesinin (Yediveren, Sarılop ve Bursa Siyahı) taşınması sırasında titreşim hasarlarını azaltmak amacıyla farklı malzemeler kullanılarak yapılan kutuların etkinliği araştırılmıştır.
Denemeler iki aşamalı olarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Birinci aşamada, gerçek taşıma koşullarında kamyondaki frekans ve titreşim değerleri saptanmıştır. Đkinci aşamada bu değerler, üç farklı kutuyla paketlenen taze incirlerin üzerindeki titreşim etkisini saptamak için simülatörde (sarsıcıda) uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar, bütün yol koşullarında karton kutuların taze incir meyvelerinin taşınması için uygun olmadığını göstermiştir. Karton kutularda taşınan meyvelerdeki kütle kaybı, ekstrüde polistiren ve ekspande polistiren taşıma kutulara göre otoyol taşıma koşularında (16 Hz – 2.54 m s-2) yaklaşık 2.5 kat daha fazla ölçülmüştür. Sarılop incir çeşidi bozuk yolda, Bursa Siyahı çeşidi ise uzun otoyol taşımasında daha fazla hasar gören çeşit olarak belirlenmiştir. 

Keywords

• Đncir
• Paketleme
• Polistiren
• Kalite
• Taşıma
• Titreşim

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