2019 ASHS Annual Conference

We wanted to find a way to compare the functionality of imperfect storage structures constructed in areas where access to electricity and humidity modification is difficult. We evaluated leafy amaranth as a possible model crop that can be used as a tool for testing the efficacy and performance of storages that do not hold constant conditions of temperature and humidity throughout the day or throughout the year. This is because the crop has markedly visible and easily measurable features that change with storage including leaf senescence, abscission and yellowing. These features can be measured without expensive tools, permitting ill-fitted laboratories to evaluate their storages and will permit comparison of storages at any location. Amaranth thrives in hot weather and is best stored at 0 to 5 °C and 80-90% RH. In Delhi, India, we used the amaranth to evaluate a solar refrigerated evaporatively cooled (SREC) store, an evaporatively cooled (EC) store, and an ordinary (ambient) room during the summer when daily high temperatures were approximately 40 °C and nighttime temperatures were approximately 30 °C. The SREC room, while it is an advance over the standard EC room, could only achieve a low temperature of 9 °C during the day and 14 °C at night, with little control over humidity. Nevertheless, we found, as expected, desiccation, leaf abscission and yellowing was much more rapid in EC and ordinary room compared to SREC stores. We propose that amaranth would make an effective model plant for comparing storage efficacies and suggest similar approaches for widely grown fruit might be similarly useful.