Effects of surface coating material made from Taengwood Balau resin and storage temperatures on effective skin permeances to water vapor and respiration rates of fresh cherry tomato

Abstract

Cherry tomatoes are vulnerable to loss their marketability under high storage temperature causing rapid fresh weight losses and other quality changes. Surface coating using shellac, wax and alike is one of the postharvest management practically implemented to mitigate such undesirables. The present research was undertaken to study the effects of the coating material made from Taengwood Balu (Shorea obtusa) resin (TB resin) on respiration rates and effective skin permeance to water vapor of the cherry tomatoes stored at 10-35°C. Experiment findings show that the TB resin could be transformed into the coating material providing reasonable surface adherences as well as glossiness. Both respiration rates and the skin permeances of either TB resin coated or non-coated (control) tomatoes exponentially increased in relation to increasing temperatures. The relationship was well described by the Arrhenius model, of which values of root mean square of errors were in a range of 0.012-0.030. The TB resin coated tomatoes had approximately 2-fold lower values of both respiration rates and effective skin permeance, compared to those of the controls. In all, the experimental results highlight possibilities to utilize TB resin as an alternative surface coating material, together with low storage temperature for delaying losses of water vapor, a main contributor of fresh weight loss, and those of storage qualities related to respiration processes.