Effect of Ripening Stages and Drying Method on the Physico-chemical and Sensory Properties of Keitt Mango (Mangiferaindica L.) Sliced Chips

Abstract

Fruits (30-50%) harvested in developing countries does not reach consumer due to using inappropriate method of processing. The objective of this study was to investigate effect of ripening stage and drying methods on physicochemical and sensory properties of dried sliced mango chips. mango rich as sources of vitamins A, B and C and consumed for pleasant taste and flavor. This study was lied down with two factors on completely randomized design. Different drying methods (solar drying and oven drying) and ripening stage (unripe, intermediate and fully ripe) were evaluated for physicochemical quality. The effect of factors on properties determined by Analysis of variance and significance at (p <0.05). The data was collected from oven dry and solar drying with three replication and analyzed by using SAS software. The solar dried mangoes were evaluated for changes in moisture content (8, 8.83 and 9.83), ash content (3, 2.33 and 2.5), pH (4.02, 5.02 and 6.11), TSS (2.45, 2.83 and 3) rehydration capacity (50.83%, 63.93% and 58.65%), ascorbic acid (3.24, 1.82 and 1.47) and titratable acidity (0.05, 0.02 and 0.02) with unripe, intermediate and fully ripe mango respectively. The result showed that, for solar drying methods the best ripening stage was fully ripen. Other parameters also best for physicochemical qualities of solar-dried samples than ovendried samples. Generally, present study showed that, solar dried samples was the highest in rehydration capacity at unripe, intermediate, and fully ripen and higher in other physicochemical properties at ripening stage (unripe, intermediate, and fully ripen) compare with oven dried. However, because of some constraints, some parameters were not included. Therefore, based on the limitation of the work, further research is needed to study the effect of Ripening Stages and Drying Method on (vitamin (A and B) and minerals) and (protein, carbohydrates, fat), and betacarotien of mango fruits which are not conducted in this research due to budget and time limitations, large scale drying room needed.