University of the Philippines Los Baños

College of Agriculture and Food Science

Institute of Crop Science

COOLING OF PRODUCE
HASMAYE MARIE M. PINTO
HORT 109.1

1
A scientific paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in Horticulture 109.1
under Prof. Josephine Agravante, 1st semester, 2020-2021
 INTRODUCTION

Successful postharvest handling of perishable crops requires careful coordination and

integration of various cooling techniques. After harvest, it is only within hours that crops held at
ambient temperatures losses their quality, reducing their postharvest life (Sargent et al., 2000).
Since the relative perishability of crops is based on its respiration rate producing carbon dioxide,
water, chemical energy and heat in the process, there is a need for perishables to be rapidly
cooled to the optimal storage temperature to slow metabolism and extend their postharvest life
during shipping and handling operations (Sargent et al., 2000).

Cooling, together with refrigeration, supports produce from packinghouse to supermarket

by providing a cold chain that maintains the postharvest life of produce by giving commodities
protection from diseases and pests and regulating their respiration rate. By definition,
commercial cooling of perishable crops is the rapid removal of at least 7/8 of the field heat of the
crop by an appropriate cooling method (Sargent et al., 2000). The removal of 7/8 field heat is
recommended to maintain adequate shipping life to distant markets while the remaining 1/8 of
the field heat is eliminated during the subsequent storage and handling of the produce.

To remove field heat efficiently, the rate of heat transfer or the cooling rate of produce is
carefully considered. The cooling rate is influenced by time, temperature, contact within the
commodity and the cooling method employed (Sargent et al., 2000). Additionally, various
cooling media used to cool the produce also have varying capacities to remove heat. The most
optimized cooling methods in the industry now are room cooling, forced air (pressure) cooling,
contact icing, vacuum cooling, and hydrocooling.

Hydrocooling is the cooling of produce using chilled water. It cools produce rapidly
about 15 times faster than air cooling as it allows high heat transfer rate resulting in shorter
cooling (Chepngeno et al., 2015). Although produce subjected to hydrocooling are more
susceptible to pathogens because of wetting, in developing countries, low cost hydrocooling
system offers affordable means to curb postharvest loses of perishables (Boyett et al., 1992;
Chepngeno et al., 2015). Hydrocooling allows for greater harvesting and marketing flexibility
with its capability to handles large amounts of produce (Boyette et al., 1992). This exercise aims
to characterize the effect of hydrocooling on the storage behavior of a commodity using leafy
vegetables kangkong and pechay.
 METHODOLOGY

The experiment was conducted from December 23, 2020 to December 26, 2020 at
Angoluan, Echague, Isabela. Four bundles of leafy vegetables, pechay (3 crowns/bundle) and
kangkong, at a temperature of about 30 °C (warm, room temperature) were obtained. Two
bundles were hydrocooled by immersion in ice-water for 15 min. The other two bundles served
as control and were not subjected to hydrocooling. After the hydrocooling process, all treated
samples are placed in a refrigerator without delay. VQR, yellowing and wilting index are
measured until the limit of marketability.

Data gathering for visual quality changes was done every day. The overall rating was
obtained using the subjective indices score shown in Table 1. Visual Quality Rating (VQR) –
The overall rating was obtained using the subjective score of VQR shown in Table 2. Defects
that were considered for VQR are those that manifest after harvest like yellowing, wilting and
disease incidence. The experiment was terminated when the slices produce reached VQR2 (limit
of edibility with slices exhibiting serious defects). Yellowing Index – The onset and severity of
yellowing were determined. It was rated subjectively through scoring (Table 1). No yellowing
was indicated by a score of 1 and severe yellowing was rated as 5. Wilting Index – This refers to
the visual aspect of quality that depends on loss of water content of the produce. This was
evaluated with scores on Table 1 with the highest score as 1 (no wilting).

Figure 1. Hydrocooling of produce

Table 1. Subjective indices to be used in evaluating changes in visual quality, softening,
yellowing, browning and disease severity (Mitchnam et al., 2003)
Ratin
Parameter Description
g
VQR 10 excellent, field fresh

8, 9 good, no visible defects

7, 6 good, defects minor

5, 4 fair, defects show limit of marketability

3 poor, defects serious

2 limit of edibility

1 Non-edible

Wilting 1 Wilting absent

2 Slight wilting (<20% samples wilting)

3 Moderate wilting (20-50% samples wilting)

4 Unmarketable under ordinary condition

5 Inedible

Yellowing 1 No yellowing 

2 Very slight, yellowing hardly noticeable (>10% of samples exhibit

yellowing)
3 Slight (11-25% of samples exhibit yellowing)

4 Moderate (26-50% of samples exhibit yellowing)

5 Severe yellowing (>50% of samples exhibit yellowing)

 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Problems of the study
The result of the experiment has been limited by errors made by the student. Instead of
putting inside the refrigerator, the hydrocooled commodities was placed in the freezer causing
serious defects on the hydrocooled specimen even if the visual quality of pechay and kangkong
was preserved. Still indices score of pechay and kangkong observed were recorded as follows.

Table 1. Indices score of pechay and kangkong for three days observation
Day 0 Day 1 Day 2
Pechay VQR Yellowing Wilting VQR Yellowing Wilting VQR Yellowing Wilting
To r1 7 1 1 5 3 3 4 3 3
r2 7 1 1 5 3 3 4 3 3
T1 r1 7 1 1 6 2 1 3 2 1
r2 7 1 1 6 2 1 3 2 1
Kangkong
To r1 6 2 2 3 4 4 1 5 5
r2 6 2 2 3 4 4 1 5 5
T1 r1 6 2 2 5 2 2 4 4 1
r2 6 2 2 5 2 2 4 4 1

Figure 2. Ambient (left) and hydrocooled (right) specimens after three days

Theoretical results
 In a study by Franca et al. (2015), lettuce heads were subjected different hydrocooling
treatments where T1= hydrocooling followed by storage at 5°C in a cold chamber, T2= storage
in the cold chamber at 5°C without hydrocooling, T3= hydrocooling followed by storage at 22°C
and T4= storage at 22°C without hydrocooling.

Results showed that hydrocooling extended the shelf life of produce at 5 and 22°C with a
prominent slowing down of the visual wilting of lettuce leaves. Additionally, the hydrocooling
combines with low temperature storage (5°C) maintains water balance and hydration in the
leaves causing an increase of 20% in the marketing of the product “from 5 days in lettuces
without hydrocooling, to 6 days when these were subjected to hydrocooling.”

The internal temperature of the produce in the experiment done would experience a
decrease after a few minutes of hydrocooling. During immersion of the leafy vegetables, certain
amount of water will be absorbed by tissues and some part will be retained on the surface of
leaves even after draining them. Both treatments would still experience fresh matter loss through
time indicated by the decrease in VQR.

Considering the shelf life of leafy vegetables, rapid cooling through hydrocooling is an
important factor to keep their quality. The use of cold treatments is a necessary element in
retarding undesirable changes in leafy vegetables together with conservation of temperature,
relative humidity, and the regulation of the composition of the current atmosphere (Krebs et al.,
2019)

CONCLUSION

Cooling, together with refrigeration, supports produce from packinghouse to supermarket by

providing a cold chain that maintains the postharvest life of produce by giving commodities
protection from diseases and pests and regulating their respiration rate. Bundles of leafy
vegetables, pechay (3 crowns/bundle) and kangkong, at a temperature of about 30 °C (warm,
room temperature) were obtained and were hydrocooled by immersion in ice-water for 15 min.
The set-up was refrigerated after and a control set-up where bundles where not hydrocooled were
stored at ambient temperature. They were observed for three days. Due to the problems
encountered in of the study, results were limited. However, theoretically, using cold water
immersion for leafy vegetables has beneficial effects and provides maintenance of water content
in the leaves during cold storage and reduction of fresh mass loss.

REFERENCES
Boyette M, Estes E, & Rubin AR. (1992). Postharvest Technology Series: Hydrocooling.
Retrieved from: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/hydrocooling

Chepngeno, Joyce & Kinyuru, John & Nenguwo, Ngoni & Willis, Owino. (2015). The Effects of
a Low Cost Hydro Cooling System on the Postharvest Quality Characteristics of Selected
Tropical Fruits and Vegetables. 03. 101-109.
França, Christiane FM, Ribeiro, Welington S, Silva, Fernanda C, Costa, Lucas C, Rêgo,
Elizanilda R, & Finger, Fernando L. (2015). Hydrocooling on postharvest conservation of
butter lettuce. Horticultura Brasileira, 33(3), 383-387. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-
053620150000300018
Krebs de Souza, Carolina & Schmitz, Fernanda & Bertoli, Sávio & Carvalho, Lisiane. (2019).
Effect of refrigerated storage conditions on leafy vegetables. 7. 75.
10.15406/mojfpt.2019.07.00223.
Sargent, Steven & Ritenour, Mark & Brecht, Jeffrey. (2000). Handling, Cooling and Sanitation
Techniques for Maintaining Postharvest Quality 1.