Fruits and vegetables begin to worsen shortly after harvesting. To protect it from spoilage the vegetables and fruits should be stored in cold store. Mainly cultivation of vegetables is done by small or medium farmers. It is costly for them to prepare special cold storages. To solve this problem, PAU has recommended zero energy cool chambers.
Construction: For its construction we require brick floor which is 2m long and 1.5m wide, on this double wall have spacing of 7.5cm between two walls is constructed and the spacing is filled with sand.
The walls should be kept wet to maintain the proper moisture in the chamber. In this chamber place the vegetables and fruits in airy crates and then cover the crates with polythene sheet.
By this way the temperature of chamber will remain 10-15oC less than the outer temperature and the moisture will remain upto 90%.
This chamber is used for the storage of fruits, vegetables and flowers in March-July month, after that the chamber are also used for the ripening of fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes and bananas.
Advantages: To run this chamber there is no need of electricity or diesel. The materials placed in this remains fresh, due to which it can be sold later at whole price.
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