MEASUREMENT OF RESPIRATION RATE OF LIGHT RED STAGE TOMATOES (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) AND ITS MODELING

S. BILLORIA¹*, A. PATEL², H.N. MISHRA^3
1Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India
²Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India
³Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India
* Corresponding Author : sudharihant@gmail.com

Received : 24-09-2016     Accepted : 09-11-2016     Published : 24-11-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 57       Pages : 3125 - 3131
Int J Agr Sci 8.57 (2016):3125-3131

Keywords : Tomato, Respiration rate, Peleg model, Enzyme kinetics, Modeling
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, New Delhi, for carrying out this research work.
Author Contribution : Billoria conceptualized and designed the work; collected, analyzed and interpreted data; Patel revised the drafted manuscript; Mishra gave technical support, conceptual advice and final approval of the manuscript to be published.

Respiration rate of tomatoes at light red stage was measured at several storage temperatures ranging from 10°C to 30°C using closed system respirometer. The study involved the quantification of the effect of time, temperature and gas concentration on the respiration rate of tomatoes and the models were developed, showing the relationship among them. The experimental data were fitted to mathematical models; Peleg model and an uncompetitive inhibition based enzyme kinetics model, for the prediction of respiration rate within the given experimental range. The temperature dependence of the model parameters was established by Arrhenius equation. The suitability of models to predict the respiration rate was examined with the help of relative deviation modulus by calculating the difference between the actual and the predicted respiration rates at 12°C. The difference (relative deviation modulus) between the predicted and the experimental respiration rates was found to be 8.3% and 9.2% for oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) respectively respiration expressions for regression model and 7.5% and 8.4% for O2 and CO2 for uncompetitive inhibition based enzyme kinetics model, respectively.