Measurement of Respiration of Fresh Vegetables

Abstract

The respiration rate of fresh vegetables has the fundamental significance in storage, but there were few data available in wide range of temperatures.
In this study, the relationship between respiration rate and temperature of thirteen kinds of Japanease vegetables were measured by modern precise ventilatory method.
Because of respiration being a kind of chemical reaction, the relationships between respiration rate and temperature were fitted to Arrhenius' equation and Gore's equation (Modified Arrhenius' equation).
The heat of respiration in kJ per ton per day was obtained multiplying the respiration rate of milligrams of CO₂ per kilogram per hour by a factor of 10.61. The heats of respiration are all a little higher than the conventional values.