This document discusses pomegranate production, post-harvest management techniques, and value addition opportunities for pomegranates. It provides an overview of pomegranate production levels in India and discusses the various health benefits of pomegranates. It then outlines several unit operations for post-harvest handling of fruits and vegetables including harvesting, cooling, storage, and transportation. Various techniques for pomegranate processing are described including aril extraction, minimal processing, and development of products like anardana powder, jelly, and tablets. Storage and cooling technologies like evaporative cool chambers and a two-stage evaporative cooler are also summarized. Finally, the document discusses entrepreneurship and training programs offered by the Central Institute of Post

1. Dr. R. T. Patil
Director,
Central Institute of Post Harvest
Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana
Post Harvest Management and Value
Addition of Fruits and vegetables with
Special Reference to Pomegranate

2. Production & Post Harvest Scenario
•Agriculture contributes about 17.5%
of GDP, employees 57% workforce
and sustains approx over 70% of the
population
•Pomegranate production 665,000
tonnes from 97,000 ha area
•Food processing is employment
intensive, creates 1.8 jobs directly
and 6.4 indirectly for every US$ 25000
investment

3. Health Benefits of Pomegranate
All parts of the tree, the roots, the reddish brown bark,
leaves, flowers, rind and seeds have featured in medicine
for thousands of years.
•In case of diarrhoea it acts as a major relief if taken with cloves and cinnamon.
•It is also very useful in case of a person’s hoarse voice, if gargled with its juice.
•If pomegranate is taken with honey, it helps in earache.
•Pomegranate also helps in improving digestion and decreases kidney disorders.
•It also helps in improving appetite if taken as juice.
•People facing bad vision or weak eyesight can take it as fruit or juice, in either case
it helps in improving vision.
•Health professionals prescribe eating pomegranates with little salt and pepper in
case of stomach ache.
•Pomegranates helps in reducing intestinal worms.
•In case of fever if served as juice acts as an allay for thirst.
•Pomegranates also help in reducing teeth and gum disorder if it is regularly used as
toothpowder.
•According to a recent study it was found that pomegranate also helps in protection
from skin cancer.

4. Unit Operations in Post Harvest
Management
Fruits and Vegetables
•Preharvest treatment
•Harvesting at Maturity
•Safe harvesting
•Pre cooling & washing
•Surface drying
•Cool/cold storage
•Safe transport
•Safe handling

6. Non-destructive Technique to
Determine the Quality of Fruits
• Eating quality and postharvest shelf life
of ripe mango depends on its maturity
at harvest
• Change of peel color and total soluble
solids (TSS) are indicative parameters
to measure maturity of mango.
• A maturity index was defined based on
TSS and colour values.
• The model was developed to predict
maturity using colourimeter
• Colour and maturity index chart were
also developed to determine maturity
• This technique can be employed to
sort the mangoes at export port, big
mandies and in processing plant.
Capacity
About 100 fruits per hour

7. Solution to pomegranate cracking in
semi-arid regions
A solution was obtained by controlling the
water applications and advancing the
flowering and fruiting and spraying near
maturity with 0.2% boron. It resulted near
negligible cracking of fruits and improvement
in quality of fruit with maximum juice, TSS,
vitamin C and acidity and sugars.

8. Mobile Cool Chamber
Developed for short duration
storage and transportation of
fruits for retail marketing. The
insulated box was designed such
that it could hold 8 plastic crates
of size 540x360x295 mm in two
layer of four each.
It costs around Rs. 18,000-
20,000/-

9. Hydro Cooler cum Washer for Fruits and Vegetables
•Works on the principle of water
slide
•Washing and cooling is done by
water jets
•Removes adhering soil, dirt,
micorbial, pesticide
contamination
•Removes the fruit sap adhering
while harvesting
•Removes the field heat due to
rapid cooling
•Capacity: 1.8 T/h
•Application of bio disinfectant or
chlorine is easily possible
•Estimated cost Rs. 50,000

10. Surface Moisture Removal After Washing

11. CIPHET Low Cost Grader
• The spherical fruits roll down the
pipes due to gravity and fall
immediately wherever they find the
space of their diameter.
• Grades 3: 25-40 mm, 40-55 mm, 55-
70 mm and > 70 mm
• The collector is inclined at 10° so
that the fruits slide directly in crates.
• The important feature of grader is its
ability to adjust the gap between the
pipes and inclination of grading table
and hopper.
• It can also be used for other round
fruits and vegetables.
Capacity: of 325 kg/hr
Overall grading efficiency: 66%.

12. Pomegranate Aril Extractor
Due to counter rotation of the holders, fruit breaks into two
irregular halves loosening the arils for easy separation. About
20-25% arils are already separated in the process of irregular
breaking due to shearing action on the inner sheath and outer
peel and rest are separated by hand.

13. •Higher aril extraction capacity; around 5.0 quintal per hour
•Aril extraction/separation efficiency is in the range of 90-94%
•Mechanical damage received by arils is only 1-2%
Mechanical Pomegranate Aril Extractor
(Recent)

14. Minimal Processing of Pomegranate Arils
Pomegranate arils treated with Chlorinated water for 5 minutes (Sodium
hypochloride 100 ppm) + Antioxidant for 30 seconds (5% W/v Citric acid or
Ascorbic Acid) and packed in 25 µSemi permeable film and store at 5 ± 1º C
maintains quality, colour and shelf life up to 16 days with good physical and
microbiological conditions for their commercialization. Anti oxidants were
positive to reduce spoilage and retain colour, quality and chemical
composition of arils.
The minimal processing of pomegranate arils
included peeling the fruits with hand tool at
room temperature, eliminating damaged arils
if any. Arils are washed by immersion in a
sodium hypochlorite solution (100 ppm) for 5
min and allowed to dry by centrifuge or under
fan. The separated and chlorine treated arils
are dipped in the antioxidant solution (5%
W/v Citric acid or Ascorbic Acid) for 30
seconds, dried and packed in 25µ semi
permeable film (150 g of arils/bag).

15. Process Technology for Anardana and Its Powder
• Desirable acid sugar ratio,
retains maximum quality
parameters (sugars, TSS,
vitamin C and minerals) up to
six months of storage.
• Maximum colour values
especially for red.
• Product found best for
making allied products like
chutney, digestive churan,
tablets etc.
• Microbial load under limit.
Raw material: Wild pomegranate, Machinery: Steel trays, Cabinet flow drier, Heavy
duty grinder, Pouch making machine, sealer Power: 12KW, Manpower: 4 per day,
Land: 250 m2, Investment: 10.0 Lakh, Capacity: 50-60kg/hour

16. Process Technology for Pomegranate Jelly
and Granadine
• Jelly is excellent in appearance,
colour, nutritionally rich in vitamin A
and minerals, good keeping quality
with natural flavour.
• Under microbial load.
• Can be stored for 4 months under
ambient conditions and 6 months in
cold storage.
Raw material: Pomegranate (Mridula and Ganesh),
sugar, citric acid, lemon, pectin, Machinery: Kettle,
pulper/juicer, steel utensils, glass containers, Jel meter,
corking machine, Power: 12KW, Manpower: 2
persons, Land: 250 m2, Investment: 8.00lakh,
Capacity: 50-60kg/hour

17. Process Technology for Making Anardana
Hazmahazam (Digestive Tablets)
• Formulation had better taste, flavour,
rich in nutrition, minerals.
• Digestive in nature,
• Has better binding characteristics.
• Can be stored up to six months when
packed in 200g MPP
Raw Material: Wild pomegranate, Machinery:Steel trays, Cabinet flow
drier, Heavy duty grinder, Pouch making machine, sealer, heavy duty tablet
making machine, Power: 12KW, Manpower: 4 per day, Land: 250 m2,
Investment: 10.5 Lakh, Capacity: 50-75 kg/hour, Cost: Rs. 60.00 per kg

18. Evaporatively Cooled Room for Storage of
Fruits and Vegetables
Compared on the basis of 10%
physiological loss in weight (PLW) the
shelf life inside the room was 34 days
for early kinnow, 23 days for late
kinnow, 11 days for cauliflower and 4
days for spinach as compared to 21,
11, 5 and 2 days respectively in an
ordinary room at the same time.
The cost of the chamber is Rs. 50000 and capacity is 2 tonnes. This
technology has been transferred to 3 farmers for on farm use.
•An evaporatively cooled (EC) room (3x3x3m. size) was developed
for on-farm storage of fruits and vegetables.
•The summer temperature inside the EC room was 5-8C lower than
that inside the ordinary room and winter temperature was 5-8 C
higher than that inside the ordinary room.

19. CIPHET Evaporative Cooled Storage Structure
(2006-07)
• Storage of fruits and vegetables
• Evaporatively Cooled Structure (ECS)
maintains a moderate low temperature
and sufficiently high relative humidity for
short term storage of fresh fruits and
vegetables.
• Advantages
 Low level consumption of
electricity
 Less initial investment
 Negligible maintenance cost
• Features
– Special design of roof, orientation
– Uses wetted pad as cooling medium
– 20oC below the outside temperature
– An ECS of about 5 -7 tonne storage
capacity may cost about Rs. 1.5 –
1.8 lakh.

20. Two Stage Evaporative Cooler
• The cooler is portable and 1.5m x
1.0m x 2.0m in length, breadth and
height
• The developed two stage evaporative
cooler could be able to drop the
temperature up to the wet bulb
depression and to 90 % relative
humidity.
• The effectiveness of the two stage
evaporative cooler ranged from 1.1 to
1.2 over the single evaporation.
• The hourly cooling capacity of TSEC
ranged from 2125 to 4500 W

21. Entrepreneurship Development Programmes
at CIPHET, Ludhiana, India
• Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) and Minimal
Processing Vegetables
• Fabrication, Operation and Maintenance of Mobile Ice
Boxes / Cool Chambers for Fruits, Vegetables and
Marine Products
• Processing of Pomegranate and By-Product
Utilization
• Construction and maintenance of Evaporative Cooled
Structure for Storage of fruits & Vegetables
• Grading and Shrink Packaging of Fruits for Urban
Market

22. Agribusiness Initiatives at CIPHET
• One day awareness workshops @ Rs. 75000
• One week EDP on various food factories @ Rs 2000
per candidates (Batch of 20 candidates)
• International trainings in food processing and post
harvest management
• Licensing of CIPHET patented technologies-
negotiable
• Contract research, National and International-as per
the work load
• B. Tech, MSc, MTech, PhD research with CIPHET
scientists as co-guide
• Consortium of laboratories in Punjab for food product
quality and safety evaluation
• Custom training programmes on Cold storage
construction and operation, cold chain development
for PHM