PHYSICAL AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF TROPICAL FRUITS AND VEGETABLES USING DIRECT-TYPE EVAPORATIVE COOLER

     The general objectives of the study are to compare the variation of sensory qualities of different tropical fruits and vegetables stored in ambient temperature and evaporative cooler storage. A completely randomized design with two treatments and replicated three times was used in the study. The following were fruits and vegetables used in the study: mango, avocado, pechay and avocado. The following were the treatments used: T1-ambient storage and T-evaporative cooler storage. For every treatment, maximum capacity of the evaporative cooler was used. Storage parameters evaluated on fruits and vegetables were pH level, total soluble solids and percentage loss in weight. The fruits and vegetables decrease in quality after the 7-day duration of storage. In every parameter evaluated the evaporative cooler has better results compared to ambient storage. In sensorial evaluation, the evaporative cooler was commonly not significant to that in the ambient storage.