Marketing fruits and vegetables often requires storage to extend shelf life beyond the end of the harvest season. Perishable commodities are stored in environments where physiological breakdown, physical damage and attack from pathogens are minimized. Typically the storage environment is controlled to maintain low temperature, high humidity and a predetermined atmospheric composition if required. The effect of low temperature is to slow the biological activities of the product.

The objectives of this research project were to:

1) Develop an experimental procedure to accurately determine the transpiration coefficient of fruits and vegetables,

2) Measure the transpiration coefficient for seventeen fruits and vegetables.