Paper Key : IRJ************822
Author: Yash Vilas Deshmukh ,Abhishek Vijay Kurude,Vaishnavi Dattatray Patil,Harshal Ramesh Aher,Tushar Vijay Gujrathi,Chitra Manik Barode
Date Published: 13 Apr 2024
Abstract
Onion is one of the most widely cultivated vegetable in the world. India is the second largest producer of onion in the world . In India, it is grown on 1.20 million hectares with production of 4.30 million tonnes of bulbs per annum (FAO, 1995). It is one of the most important vegetable crop of our country and forms a part of daily diet in almost all households. Most of the onion produced in India comes from the state of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. Maharashtra is the leading producer accounting for 20% of the area and 25% of the production. By considering the survey we observed that around 50-60% of onions out of total production got wasted. This is a big loss of our farmers and nation. Among this majority of losses are during the onion storage for longer period. The storability of onion is influenced by several factors such as varieties, cultural practices, pre-harvest practices and post-harvest practices. Most loss of the onion occurs after post harvesting which includes physiological loss in weight (30-40 %), sprouting (8-10%), rotting (10-12%), root growth and other disorders. Since onion is stored at ambient temperature in our country, the storage structures are designed to achieve 25- 300c temperatures and 65-70% humidity. To overcome this post-harvest loss of onion after its storage we come up with the solution where we tried to build a new structured storage unit for onion storage. Our storage unit comprises an external forced air ventilation to the onions over a period of time depending upon the different weather i.e hot or cold. And an additional periodic movement to the onions from base to top which will cause good ventilated air flow over the onions.
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