OPTIMIZATION OF SOME TECHNOLOGICAL PARAMETERS FOR FRESH CHILLI PRESERVATION BY CONTROLLED ATMOSPHERE METHOD

Abstract

The objective of this study was to optimize some parameters of fresh chili preservation technology by controlled atmosphere (CA) with 3 factors of corresponding surveyed domains:  temperature (8 - 12 ^oC), concentration of oxygen(2 - 4 %) and concentration of carbon dioxide (3 - 6 %). Experimental plan includes 9 experiments following 2³ plan repeating at center with the objective function as indicators of chili quality including total sugar content (%), organic acid content (%) and sensory quality (score). Nine experiments were concurrently conducted on  a multifunction CA system in which parameters can be controlled and automatically monitored with good accuracy: temperature ± 0.5 ^oC, humidity ± 2 %, oxygen concentration ± 0.5 %, carbon dioxideconcentration ± 0.5 %. The result was the successful determination of optimal experiment factors including temperature of 10.8 ^oC,oxygenconcentration of 8 %, and carbon dioxideconcentration of 6.0 %. The corresponding objective functions were achieved after 35 storage days with 3.65 % of total sugar content, 4.06 % of total organic acids, and good sensory quality (17.29/20 scores).