The effect of physical damage on carrots and carrots respiration : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Food Technology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate the influence of physical damage on carrots' respiration rate (RR). The paper comprises eight experiments categorised into two parts. Firstly, research on carrot respiration rate was conducted. To provide a more comprehensive understanding of carrot respiration, factors that may affect carrot respiration; such as the carrot properties and temperature were studied. Linear regression, Monte-Carlo simulation, and other statistical tools, were used to describe how temperature plays a significant role in affecting respiration rate. This second part of the research investigated the influence of physical damage on the respiration rate of carrots. This work introduced the concepts of respiration rate gap and damage density to reflect the damage-enhanced respiration rate and damage level, respectively. A relationship between damage density and damage-enhanced respiration rate was built, which indicated that both low-density and high-density damage have limited influence on respiration rate.