Measurement and Modeling of Respiration Rate of Guava (CV. Baruipur) for Modified Atmosphere Packaging

Several experiments were conducted at different storage temperatures for generating respiration data using close system method for respiration. A respiration rate model, based on enzyme kinetics and the Arrhenius equation was proposed for predicting the respiration rates of Guava as a function of O2 and CO2 concentrations and storage temperature. Temperature was found to influence the model parameters. In this model, the dependence of respiration rate on O2 and CO2 was found to follow the uncompetitive inhibition. The enzyme kinetic model parameters, calculated from the respiration rate at different O2 and CO2 concentration were used to fit the Arrhenius equation against different storage temperature. The activation energy and respiration pre-exponential factor were used to predict the model parameters of enzyme kinetics at any storage temperature between 0-30 degrees C. The developed models were tested for its validity at 12 degrees C and it was found to be in good agreement (the mean relative deviation moduli between the predicted and experimental respiration rates were found to be 8.95% and 8.02% for O2 consumption and CO2 evolution, respectively) with the experimentally estimated respiration rates.