EFFECT OF PRETREATMENTS ON PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF DEHYDRATED GREEN BITTER GOURD

Abstract

The present investigative study was conducted to assess the effect of different pretreatments individually and in combination on the physical quality attributes of pretreated and dehydrated green bitter gourd rings. The bitter gourd fruit being rich in medicinal properties especially for diabetic population is always in great demand throughout the year. Bitter gourd is a seasonal vegetable crop with poor shelf life and in order to make it available round the year, enhancing the shelf life of the produce is the need of the hour. Dehydration is the valuable method for storing this nutrient rich vegetable and with the help of mechanical driers for dehydration; a better quality product can be produced. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Completely Randomized Design with sixteen pre-treatments. With respect to the study conducted on the effect of pretreatments on the physical attributes of dehydrated green bitter gourd, it is pertinent to mention that the higher dehydration and physical attributes were reported in samples subjected to pretreatments as compared to the control. The higher retention of physical attributes like rehydration ratio and bulk density indicates that the pretreated samples before dehydration were found to have better reconstitution than the control sample. These findings indicate that in overall, the pretreated samples showed significant effects on retention of physical quality attributes of green bitter gourd rings after dehydration than the control sample. This may turn out to be a better option for substitution of fresh produce in offseason along with better transport and storage dynamics.