Effect of Air-conditioned Refrigerated Container on Preservation of Vegetables

In order to study the fresh-keeping effect of air-conditioned refrigerated container, both the air-conditioned refrigerated container and common cold storage were used to preserve fresh vegetables (pakchoi, leaf lettuce, celery and spinach) under 1 ℃. The controlled atmosphere was 5%±1% O₂, 95%±1% N₂, and the relative humidity was 90%±5%. The ethylene removal module runned for half an hour every morning, and the ozone sterilization module worked for 10 minutes once a day, with the concentration of 2 g·min⁻¹. While, there were no other measures for common cold storage in addition to cold storage. The indicators of the weight loss rate, soluble solids content, titratable acid content, V_C, respiration intensity, MDA and chlorophyll content were investigated to evaluate the preservation performance of the equipment. The results showed that during 45 d storage period, the air-conditioned refrigerated container performed better on effectively preventing vegetables weight loss, maintaining high soluble solids and titratable acid content, inhibiting the respiration intensity of vegetables, reducing the consumption of V_C and chlorophyll, also relieving the degree of cell membrane peroxidation in leave. Furthermore, it can effectively retard the corruption of vegetable and maintain the fresh quality of vegetables. In conclusion, air-conditioned refrigerated container has a better application prospect for storage of large quantities of vegetables.