Effect of modified atmosphere packaging on quality of Barhi dates at Khalal stage

Abstract

Barhi Dates are an important food and often consumed and sold in the market during the stage Khalal, when the colour is yellow and their taste is sweet with the disappearance of their astringent taste. During the Khalal stage, these dates become physiologically mature with gives the sweet taste. For this reason, they are sold and consumed in a short period of time before these fruits turn into Rutab, a stage at which they lose that distinguishing characteristic. The high moisture, rapid ripening, and delays in transportation or improper storage conditions quickly result in Rutab stage. Thus The Khalal stage lasts for a short time until the fruits get ripe. In the present study, Barhi Khalals were packaged in air (control) and by two types of modified atmosphere packaging: MAP A (5% O2+ 20% CO2 and 75% N2) and MAP B (40% O2+ 20% CO2 and 40% N2). Afterwards, all samples were stored at 5°C for 30 days. On days zero, 10, 20 and 30 of storage, the fruits were evaluated in terms of the changes in the quality indices of weight loss, colour, Total Soluble Solids (TSS), and firmness of the fruits and sensory features. The results showed that the minimum weight loss was 0.45% in modified atmosphere packaging, especially with MAP A and the minimum increase in the TSS was 37.35 Brix° after 30 days of the storage. On the other hand, the results for firmness, colour, and sensory evaluation were better with control packaging.

Physical Properties of Barhi dates at khalal stage, study area (Baghdad city)

“…The Statistical analysis in this study was carried out by used Microsoft excel software. Trends considered significant whereas the means of compared sets differed at P < 0.05 (Student's t-test) [8].…”

“…The apparent volume ( is calculated theoretically by calculation (Jain and Bal, 1997), and true volume ( is calculated by the liquid displacement method [11] : (6) Aspect ratio (Ra) is determined by (Maduako & Faborode, 1990): (7) True density ( is measured by the following equation [14] : (8) The bulk density (g. cm -3 ) is obtained by a container with known mass and measured the volume which filled with the Barhi fruits. The bulk density is determined by the ratio of date mass in the container to its volume [15]:…”

“…This characteristic is very usually a main factor for the consumers preference because the Barhi dates at khalal stage begin to lose this yellow colour when they move to rutab stage and decreased values (l*) and (b*) and increased values (a*). [8].…”

“…Furthermore, in the later period, several techniques will be tried to extend the shelf life of Khalal stage for these dates (Barhi) such as Modified atmosphere storage, vacuum packaging and hydrochooling [7]. These techniques require the study of some of these physical properties before and after the storage with these techniques [8]. The purposes of this research is the physical properties which are examined in this study include: colour, weight, length, width, thickness, sphericity, true and apparent volume, surface area, True and bulk density, geometric and arithmetic mean diameter, aspect ratio, and porosity.…”

Machine-Learning-Based Spectroscopic Technique for Non-Destructive Estimation of Shelf Life and Quality of Fresh Fruits Packaged under Modified Atmospheres

“…Preserving the quality of fresh date palm fruits during the marketing process is a significant technical hurdle, particularly at the Khalal stage of maturity [12]. The factors that affect the optimal packaging of fresh fruits include the respiration rate of the product, the desired gas composition to extend the shelf life, the surrounding temperature and gas composition, the volume, area, and thickness of the packaging material, and the permeability of the film to CO 2 and O 2 gases [13].…”