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Using Amaranth as a Model Plant for Evaluating Imperfect Storages: Assessment of Solar-refrigerated and Evaporatively-cooled Structures in India

Some storages have limited control over their internal environment and undergo daily and seasonal fluctuations in both temperature and humidity, which cause variation in the metabolic activity of stored products. As a result, it is difficult to assess and compare the performance of these imperfect storages using measures of environmental control. We propose using measures of plant senescence as a proxy for estimating storage performance of these “imperfect” storages based on the premise that physiological processes integrate changes of temperature and/or humidity in a predictable, mathematically describable manner. We evaluated amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor L.) as a model plant for evaluating imperfect storages using a red-leaf cultivar Pusa lal chaulai and a green-leaf cultivar Pusa kiran. Amaranth is a leafy vegetable grown worldwide and is a highly nutritious and versatile food. Cumulative respiration, a measure of integrated metabolic activity, was regressed against leaf abscission, chlorophyll loss, and leaf yellowing of amaranth stems for four storages having different, variable, temperature profiles. Storages included 1) an evaporatively cooled (EC) structure; 2) a solar-refrigerated and evaporatively cooled (SREC) structure; 3) an uncooled laboratory (UL); and 4) a household refrigerator (REF). We found that the rate of abscission, chlorophyll loss, and leaf yellowing differed markedly for the four storages; however, these measures of senescence were linearly related to estimates of cumulative respiration. The ease of measuring leaf abscission, chlorophyll loss, and leaf yellowing permits data collection even with minimal resources. We propose that amaranth would make an effective model plant for comparing the performance of storages differing dramatically in temperature control. A 10% leaf abscission in amaranth is proposed as a target for comparing storages.