Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying
Four solar dryers were tested for dehydrating mango slices. The design of the dryers included setups allowing direct exposure of the fruit to the sun, with fans (DF) or without fans (DnoF), as well as setups that provided shade to the fruits, with fans (IF) and without fans (InoF). Mango slices drie...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AIMS Press
2025-03-01
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| Series: | AIMS Agriculture and Food |
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| Online Access: | https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/agrfood.2025004 |
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| author | Paula Viola Salvador Randi Phinney Karolina Östbring Lucas Tivana Marilyn Rayner Federico Gómez Galindo Henrik Davidsson |
| author_facet | Paula Viola Salvador Randi Phinney Karolina Östbring Lucas Tivana Marilyn Rayner Federico Gómez Galindo Henrik Davidsson |
| author_sort | Paula Viola Salvador |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Four solar dryers were tested for dehydrating mango slices. The design of the dryers included setups allowing direct exposure of the fruit to the sun, with fans (DF) or without fans (DnoF), as well as setups that provided shade to the fruits, with fans (IF) and without fans (InoF). Mango slices dried in the open sun (OS) were used as a control. Parameters measured included air temperature, humidity, fruit weight loss, and dried mango analysis for water content, water activity, and microbial count. The setups DF and IF dried the mango slices approximately 40 hours faster than OS, while DnoF took approximately 74 hours and did not dry the mango to the microbial-safety zone of 0.6 of water activity. Microbiological analysis (Enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria, mould, and yeast) showed no significant differences except for total aerobic plate count, which, despite the difference, its values remained under the safe consumption limit of 4 CFU/g. The economic evaluation suggests a potential revenue of 980 USD for smallholder farmers in Mozambique using DF and IF setups from the first year. This study advocates for solar dryers to reduce post-harvest losses and increase income in rural Mozambique. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bb99a22ef9eb430abd0fabc57a778458 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2471-2086 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | AIMS Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | AIMS Agriculture and Food |
| spelling | doaj-art-bb99a22ef9eb430abd0fabc57a7784582025-08-20T03:47:49ZengAIMS PressAIMS Agriculture and Food2471-20862025-03-01101587310.3934/agrfood.2025004Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango dryingPaula Viola Salvador0Randi Phinney1Karolina Östbring2Lucas Tivana3Marilyn Rayner4Federico Gómez Galindo5Henrik Davidsson6Division of Food and Pharma, Department of Process and Life Science Engineering, Box 124, Lund University, Lund, SE-22100, SwedenDivision of Food and Pharma, Department of Process and Life Science Engineering, Box 124, Lund University, Lund, SE-22100, SwedenDivision of Food and Pharma, Department of Process and Life Science Engineering, Box 124, Lund University, Lund, SE-22100, SwedenFaculty of Agronomy and Forestry Engineering, Centre of Excellence in Agri-food Systems and Nutrition, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, MozambiqueDivision of Food and Pharma, Department of Process and Life Science Engineering, Box 124, Lund University, Lund, SE-22100, SwedenDivision of Food and Pharma, Department of Process and Life Science Engineering, Box 124, Lund University, Lund, SE-22100, SwedenDivision of Energy and Building Design, Department of Building and Environmental Technology, Box 118, Lund University, Lund, SE-22100, SwedenFour solar dryers were tested for dehydrating mango slices. The design of the dryers included setups allowing direct exposure of the fruit to the sun, with fans (DF) or without fans (DnoF), as well as setups that provided shade to the fruits, with fans (IF) and without fans (InoF). Mango slices dried in the open sun (OS) were used as a control. Parameters measured included air temperature, humidity, fruit weight loss, and dried mango analysis for water content, water activity, and microbial count. The setups DF and IF dried the mango slices approximately 40 hours faster than OS, while DnoF took approximately 74 hours and did not dry the mango to the microbial-safety zone of 0.6 of water activity. Microbiological analysis (Enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria, mould, and yeast) showed no significant differences except for total aerobic plate count, which, despite the difference, its values remained under the safe consumption limit of 4 CFU/g. The economic evaluation suggests a potential revenue of 980 USD for smallholder farmers in Mozambique using DF and IF setups from the first year. This study advocates for solar dryers to reduce post-harvest losses and increase income in rural Mozambique.https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/agrfood.2025004dryingdrying fluxeconomic evaluationmangosolar drying setups |
| spellingShingle | Paula Viola Salvador Randi Phinney Karolina Östbring Lucas Tivana Marilyn Rayner Federico Gómez Galindo Henrik Davidsson Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying AIMS Agriculture and Food drying drying flux economic evaluation mango solar drying setups |
| title | Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying |
| title_full | Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying |
| title_fullStr | Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying |
| title_full_unstemmed | Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying |
| title_short | Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying |
| title_sort | minimizing post harvest waste of mango in rural mozambique the effect of different solar setups in mango drying |
| topic | drying drying flux economic evaluation mango solar drying setups |
| url | https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/agrfood.2025004 |
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