Abstract
Effect of vibration by simulated truck transportation on respiration rate and quality of strawberry fruits was investigated. Vibration data were actually recorded by truck transportation, and a vibration experiment using the data was carried out with a trans-simulation vibrator in the laboratory. 1) Before the vibration, the respiration rate (carbon dioxide production) of strawberry fruits was approximately 30 mg/kg/hr during storage at 5 °C and 70 mg/kg/hr at 15°C, respectively. During the vibration, the respiration rate increased rapidly to 50 mg/kg/hr at 5°C and 84 mg/kg/hr at 15°C, respectively. The level of respiration rate during the vibration was kept higher than that before the vibration. After the vibration, the respiration rate decreased gradully to the initial level within 1 hr. 2) The vibration damaged the quality of appearance is strawberry fruits, and the quality was lower than that of fruits of non-vibration. Further more, storage temperatures also affected strawberry fruits, and the quality of fruits at 5°C was maintained higher than that of fruits stored at 15°C. 3) The decrease of flesh firmness was observed by the vibration. Flesh of fruits stored at St was maintained firmer than that at 1St. 4) No effect of the vibration was found with respect to solible solid, acidity and vitamin C content of strawberry fruits.
