Abstract
A long shelf life of onions (Allium cepa L.) is of high importance in the onion industry. Onions are dried and stored in large wooden boxes that are difficult to access. Monitoring temperature and relative humidity during these processes is challenging. Moreover, quality may change in storage without being noticed. Therefore, there is a need to find alternative methods for monitoring and controlling the drying and storage processes of onions and to identify early changes in quality during storage. The potential use of online measurements of temperature and relative humidity (RH) in the vicinity of onions was evaluated during drying and long-term storage of six onion batches (four cultivars and three selections of one of the cultivars) in commercial storage. The batches varied in bulb weight, dry matter content, firmness and disease incidence. The dry matter content and firmness decreased during storage, while the respiration rate and incidences of individual and total disease increased. Two of the batches had low storability with high disease incidences and high average temperatures and variations in the RH. The results showed that tracking the temperature and RH in the vicinity of the onions is a promising tool for improving the drying and storage processes in commercial storage and for identifying onion batches with reduced storability early in storage.
Highlights
A long shelf life of onions (Allium cepa L.) is of high importance in the onion industry
Microclimate measurements as marker tools for onion quality where, y is the cumulative value, x is either the daily vapor pressure deficit (VPD) or ΔT, and i 2 {1,2,. . .,number of days}
Microclimate measurements as marker tools for onion quality side as the total diseases and sour skin and opposite to the dry matter content (Fig 7B), which is in line with the findings that small bulbs with a high dry matter content store better than large bulbs with a low content [10, 33, 34]
Summary
A long shelf life of onions (Allium cepa L.) is of high importance in the onion industry. Several factors determine the shelf life and storability of onions, e.g., the cultivar, growing conditions, harshness in harvesting, postharvest drying and storage, and storage duration [1]. In wet climates as in North Europe, onions are lifted, naturally cured in the field to dry the outer surface and neck so it forms a sealed, yellow tunic of dried and death scales, harvested, artificially dried in storage rooms to further cure the bulb, and stored at low temperature for prolonged periods to reduce metabolic activity and decay. Microclimate measurements as marker tools for onion quality
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