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Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying

Salvador, Paula Viola ; Phinney, Randi LU ; Östbring, Karolina LU orcid ; Tivana, Lucas LU ; Rayner, Marilyn LU ; Galindo, Federico Gómez LU orcid and Davidsson, Henrik LU (2025) In AIMS Agriculture and Food 10(1). p.58-73
Abstract

Four solar dryers were tested for dehydrating mango slices. The design of the dryers included setups allowing direct exposure of the fruit to the sun, with fans (DF) or without fans (DnoF), as well as setups that provided shade to the fruits, with fans (IF) and without fans (InoF). Mango slices dried in the open sun (OS) were used as a control. Parameters measured included air temperature, humidity, fruit weight loss, and dried mango analysis for water content, water activity, and microbial count. The setups DF and IF dried the mango slices approximately 40 hours faster than OS, while DnoF took approximately 74 hours and did not dry the mango to the microbial-safety zone of 0.6 of water activity. Microbiological analysis... (More)

Four solar dryers were tested for dehydrating mango slices. The design of the dryers included setups allowing direct exposure of the fruit to the sun, with fans (DF) or without fans (DnoF), as well as setups that provided shade to the fruits, with fans (IF) and without fans (InoF). Mango slices dried in the open sun (OS) were used as a control. Parameters measured included air temperature, humidity, fruit weight loss, and dried mango analysis for water content, water activity, and microbial count. The setups DF and IF dried the mango slices approximately 40 hours faster than OS, while DnoF took approximately 74 hours and did not dry the mango to the microbial-safety zone of 0.6 of water activity. Microbiological analysis (Enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria, mould, and yeast) showed no significant differences except for total aerobic plate count, which, despite the difference, its values remained under the safe consumption limit of 4 CFU/g. The economic evaluation suggests a potential revenue of 980 USD for smallholder farmers in Mozambique using DF and IF setups from the first year. This study advocates for solar dryers to reduce post-harvest losses and increase income in rural Mozambique.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
drying, drying flux, economic evaluation, mango, solar drying setups
in
AIMS Agriculture and Food
volume
10
issue
1
pages
16 pages
publisher
AIMS Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:105000516947
ISSN
2471-2086
DOI
10.3934/agrfood.2025004
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
069050f9-7d8b-47d5-aece-0ad4616a0156
date added to LUP
2025-09-11 11:18:07
date last changed
2025-09-11 11:18:37
@article{069050f9-7d8b-47d5-aece-0ad4616a0156,
  abstract     = {{<p>Four solar dryers were tested for dehydrating mango slices. The design of the dryers included setups allowing direct exposure of the fruit to the sun, with fans (DF) or without fans (DnoF), as well as setups that provided shade to the fruits, with fans (IF) and without fans (InoF). Mango slices dried in the open sun (OS) were used as a control. Parameters measured included air temperature, humidity, fruit weight loss, and dried mango analysis for water content, water activity, and microbial count. The setups DF and IF dried the mango slices approximately 40 hours faster than OS, while DnoF took approximately 74 hours and did not dry the mango to the microbial-safety zone of 0.6 of water activity. Microbiological analysis (Enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria, mould, and yeast) showed no significant differences except for total aerobic plate count, which, despite the difference, its values remained under the safe consumption limit of 4 CFU/g. The economic evaluation suggests a potential revenue of 980 USD for smallholder farmers in Mozambique using DF and IF setups from the first year. This study advocates for solar dryers to reduce post-harvest losses and increase income in rural Mozambique.</p>}},
  author       = {{Salvador, Paula Viola and Phinney, Randi and Östbring, Karolina and Tivana, Lucas and Rayner, Marilyn and Galindo, Federico Gómez and Davidsson, Henrik}},
  issn         = {{2471-2086}},
  keywords     = {{drying; drying flux; economic evaluation; mango; solar drying setups}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{58--73}},
  publisher    = {{AIMS Press}},
  series       = {{AIMS Agriculture and Food}},
  title        = {{Minimizing post-harvest waste of mango in rural Mozambique—The effect of different solar setups in mango drying}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3934/agrfood.2025004}},
  doi          = {{10.3934/agrfood.2025004}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}