Effect of Various Citrus Sizes on the Resistance to Gas Diffusion

This study investigated the effect of various sizes of citrus on their resistance (R) to gas diffusion. The purpose of the investigation was to compare the value of R in 3 different sizes of citrus. To measure the R to gas diffusion in citrus, the study applied ethane efflux method. This is the method which the evolution phenomenon of ethane was measured by applying Fick's Law. The results showed that R of ethane (C2H6) gas was dependent on citrus size. It can be seen that the larger the size of the fruit, the greater the R value, i.e. M size had R=4.33x105s.m-1, L size had R=4.99 x105s.m-1 and 3L size had R=6.84 x105s.m-1.This finding indicated that the fruit sizes can be considered as an important factor in designing storage control atmosphere (CA) condition for citrus.