The determination of some physical properties of Pistachio vera L.

In this study, five different pistachios (Kirmizi, Uzun, Halebi, Siirt, Ohadi), which are produced widely and have a great potential in future, were examined. Nut's stem breaking strength and cluster breaking strength of these pistachio varieties were measured during the harvesting time. Mass, volumes and sphericity of samples taken from the same garden during the storage period times of 1, 2 and 3 months were measured and each samples was cracked from different positions: Vertical (A), longitudinal with open line parallel to the horizontal (B) and longitudinal with open line to parallel to vertical (C) with two different speeds (50, 100 mm min-1). Deformation and cracking force measured and cracking energy, cracking stress and modulus of elasticity were calculated and force-deformation curves were drawn. Additionally, friction resistance of fruits stored for 3 months were measured. The maximum Nut's stem breaking strength was found as 6.4 N in Ohadi variety. The relationship between the cracking force of nuts and variety, storage time, direction of cracking, cracking speed were found statistically significant. Minimum and maximum cracking force of nuts were found 287 N, 336 N in Uzun and Siirt varieties, respectively. The method of cracking position (C) that is the most commonly used by producer created the least cracking resistance, in addition to position, cracking resistance was decreased more with cracking speed of 100 mm min -1. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Assessment of the quality losses of fresh fig fruits during transportation [Taze İncir Meyvesinin Taşi{dotless}nmasi{dotless} Sirasinda Oluşan Kalite Kaybinin Deg`erlendirilmesi]

Turkey is one of the main fig fruits producers in the World. The protection of the fig fruit quality in the chains from harvesting to marketing is very important. Vibration often causes some damages to perishable fruits in transportation and reduces their quality. The fruit injury due to vibration is related to the transportation characteristics of vehicles, packaging boxes and the conditions of the roads. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of packaging box by different materials to decrease the damages of vertical vibration on the quality of three fresh fig varieties (Yediveren, Sarilop and Bursa Black) during transportation. The experiments were carried out in two stages. In the first stage; the frequency and acceleration values of truck were determined during the real transportation. In the second stage, these values were applied on the simulator (shaker) to examine the effect of vibration on fresh figs packaged with three different boxes. The results showed that the cardboard packaging box was not proper for transporting of the fresh fig fruits in all road conditions. The mass loss of fresh fig fruits packed with cardboard box were found to be 2.5 times more than extruded and expanded polystyrene boxes at 16 Hz frequency and 2.54 m s-2 acceleration. Sarilop fig variety was more damaged under the off-road. For long highway road conditions, Bursa Black fig variety was found the most affected fig variety. © Ankara Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi