The Effect of Cold Storage on the Engineering and Nutritional Properties of Apple (Malus domestica)

In this study, some selected engineering and nutritional properties of apple fruit (Malus domestica) were determined. These properties of stored apples in a cold store were also compared with the ambient storage. The properties of apples stored in cold store are: weight (11.40±0.08g), sphericity (0.46±0.003), roundness(0.649 ± 0.04), surface area(87.70 ± 1.49cm) and moisture content(85.97 ± 0.133%) ,the vitamin A and C of the stored apples in a cold store are 17.33 ± 0.19(mg/l) and 10.17 ± 0.54(mg/l) respectively. The properties of apples stored under ambient condition: weight (10.50 ± 0.48g), sphericity (0.43 ± 0.08), roundness (0.581 ± 0.07), surface area (81.86 ± 4.78cm), and moisture content (85.81 ± 0.37%). The vitamin A and of stored apples under ambient condition are (16.50 ± 0.54mg/l) and (9.78± 0.78mg/l). An average temperature of 8.860C and 30.850C were recorded for the prototype cold store and the ambient. Also an average relative humidity of 86.74% and 65.62% were recorded for the prototype cold store and the ambient. It was concluded that most of properties of stored apples in both conditions were statistically different at the five percent probability level.