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Ripening stage and drying
method affecting colour and quality attributes of
Ziziphus mauritiana fruits in Zimbabwe
Lovejoy Tembo1,2, Z.A Chiteka1,
Irene Kadzere2,3,Festus K
Akinnifesi4* and F. Tagwira1
1Faculty
of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Africa University, Box
1320, Mutare, Zimbabwe.
2Department
of Agricultural Research and Extension Services, Agronomy
Research Institute, Box CY 550, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe.
3World
Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Southern Africa Regional
Programme, Box Cy 594 Causeway Harare, Zimbabwe.
4World
Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Southern Africa Regional
Programme, Box 30798, Lilongwe, Malawi.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
f.akinnifesi@africaonline.net,
f.akinnifesi@cgiar.org.
Accepted
7 March, 2008 |
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Ziziphus mauritiana
Lamk. (Ber) fruit is harvested at different stages of
ripening in the Zambezi valley of Zimbabwe. We hypothesize
that the organoleptic quality attributes of fruits depend on
post-harvest drying method and ripening stage at harvest.
This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of
different stages of ripening on the quality of Z.
mauritiana fruits during drying. The fruits were graded
into green, yellowish-brown and brown categories and these
formed the treatments. Some of these fruits were blanched
before drying for 1, 2 and 3 weeks under the solar dryer and
the open sun drying methods. The green fruits lost
significantly (P<0.001) more weight during drying
than the yellowish-brown and brown fruits regardless of the
drying methods. The development of browning was more on the
brown fruits than the green and yellowish-brown fruits.
Key
words:
Ber, drying method, post harvest quality, blanching, fruit
colour, harvesting stage. |
