Development of Value-Added Products and Quality Evaluation of Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata L.)

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at Post Harvest Laboratory, College of Horticulture, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Modipuram, Meerut. The experiment was conducted in a Completely Randomized Design with 24 treatments (T1 to T24) with the combination of three different lime concentration (5%, 7.5% & 10%) and two different packaging materials viz., Glass jars and LDPE at 0, 30, 60 and 90 days. The experiment was carried out to evaluate the physico-chemical properties (moisture content, ash content, pH, acidity and sugar content) of each treatment. The sensory attributes were also evaluated for each treatment by scoring them with the help of 9-point Hedonic scale (9-1). The results showed that the combination of higher lime concentration (7.5% and 10%) with glass jar performed better over 5% lime concentration and LDPE. 7.5% lime along with glass jar got the maximum score for overall acceptability wrt sensory attributes. It has also been observed that glass jar provides more protection against outer environment than LDPE as LDPE is more permeable to outer environment. Cost estimation was performed for each treatment, and the result showed that 7.5% lime packed in glass jar provides the most cost-efficient as lower concentration of lime (5%) didn’t preserve the product much over the storage duration rather being cheapest. While 10% preserving the product was recorded costliest among them due to higher lime cost. Therefore, 7.5% lime was the most cost-efficient providing enough preservativeness in moderate cost.