Applied Food Research (Jun 2021)
Physico-mechanical characterization of different grades of Lotus rhizome (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn) for valorisation and smart post-harvest management
Abstract
The debilitated attention in post-harvest management of lotus rhizomes (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn) is of serious concern to the food industry. Far too often, exposure to mechanical damage during post-harvest handling, transportation, and valorisation of lotus rhizomes scores low in its quality and leads to post-harvest losses, hence the detailed profiling of this biomaterial is much needed. In this study, the data for physical and mechanical/ engineering properties of lotus rhizomes of varying sizes were generated to facilitate its utilisation in designing post-harvest and processing machinery and also planning its processing and valorisation. Lotus rhizomes were classified into different sizes for assessing the requirement of grading and sorting devices in the future. The significant difference (P<0.05) in length, width, thickness, L*, a*, and b* values ranged from 16.02 to 39.00 cm, 1.13 to 3.50 mm, 1.03 to 3.30mm, 49.10 to 64.20, 5.90 to 2.80, 6.77 to 18.01 respectively, which indicates less wastage with the increase in sizes. Besides, colour saturation, colourfulness, and purity improve with the increase in rhizome size. The mechanical properties are also influenced by the presence of air canals (pores) in the rhizome compared to other cylindrical vegetables and also suggest that the rhizomes of different sizes should be handled separately. The minimum pressure forces during handling should be in the range of 9.28 to 80.57 N depending upon the size and the shear force ranged from 100.40 to 167.62 N which increased with the increase in the size of rhizomes. Similarly, hardness values of TPsA have increased with the increase in size. The results obtained from observing these properties potentials to be useful in reducing wastages and manage smart postharvest operations in the future.
