Trend of Changes in Physical Properties of Persimmon Fruit in Ambient Condition Storage

Physical properties are often required for designing post harvest handling and processing equipment for agricultural products. Persimmon (khormandy cultivar) is rich in vitamin A, calcium, potassium, tannic acid and antioxidant phenolic compounds. In this study changes in the physical properties of persimmon fruit during storage were studied. Properties such as fruit dimensions, mass, geometric mean diameter, arithmetic mean diameter, equivalent diameter, sphericity, aspect ratio, surface area, volume and the static coefficient of friction on three surfaces (plywood, glass, and the galvanized iron sheet) were investigated. The results showed that the mean values of all physical properties decreased with increasing storage time. Experiments were carried out at initial moisture content of 44.26% d.b. Dimensions decreased from 56.01 to 52.57 mm in length, 54.19 to 50.01 mm in width, and 36.72 to 32.48 mm in thickness during storage time. Arithmetic mean diameter, geometric mean diameter and equivalent diameter varied from 48.07 to 44.06 mm, 48.95 to 45.06 mm, and 48.7 to 44.75 mm, respectively. The results also revealed that with increasing in storage time, the sphericity, the aspect ratio and the surface area of persimmon fruits were decreased from 0.859 to 0.8383, 0.6548 to 0.6211 and 72.99 to 61.41 mm2, respectively, while average volume and mass ranged from 59.18 to 45.79 mm3 and 72.8 to 65.45 g, respectively. Also, the static coefficient of friction on all surfaces increased significantly during the storage time.