Browsing by Author "Bahati, Joseph"

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    Local knowledge of maturity indicators for priority fruits and vegetables in Uganda
    (Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, 2017) Okiror, Paul; Balitta, Paul; Agea, Jacob Godfrey; Ocan, Jolly Joe; Lejju, Julius Bunny; Bahati, Joseph; Kagoro Rugunda, Grace; Sebuuwufu, Collins Inno
    Local knowledge on maturity indicators is important in determining optimal time of harvesting fruits and vegetables. These farm products are increasingly becoming a valuable source of livelihood for many rural families through household consumption and trade. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of literature on the integration of local knowledge and practices in improving maturity assessment techniques with the view of promoting optimal harvesting and consumer acceptability of fruits and vegetables in Uganda. A study was undertaken between April and September 2014 to prioritize viable fruits and vegetables, ascertain socio-economic characteristics influencing maturity assessments, assess local knowledge on maturity indicators and document maturity assessment challenges faced by fruit and vegetable farmers, transporters and traders in Kampala, Rubirizi and Sheema districts. A total of 102 respondents were interviewed as corroborative measure to field visits and focused group discussions involving 27 participants. The findings indicate that passion fruit, watermelon and pineapple were the most preferred fruits while tomato, cabbage and eggplant were highly ranked among vegetables
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    Maturity indices for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), cv. Ghalia 281 in Central Uganda
    (African Journal of Agricultural Research, 2017) Okiror, Paul; Lejju, Julius Bunny; Bahati, Joseph; Kagoro Rugunda, Grace; Sebuuwufu, Collins Inno
    Application of maturity indices and optimal harvest time improves handling and marketing operations and minimizes pre and postharvest losses for tomato products. Growth patterns of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), cv. Ghalia 281, were therefore analyzed to determine nondestructive maturity indices for optimal harvest regimes. Propagation experiments were run in central Uganda in 2015. A total of 216 tomato fruits were tagged and their diameter, height and color recorded daily prior to physico-chemical and nutritional analyses at Makerere University Food Science and Technology laboratory. The longest fruit (5.55 cm) was from breaker, while the shortest (4.95 cm) was in light red samples. Total soluble solids were highest at breaker (5.40 °Brix) and red (6.00 °Brix) and was lowest at turning stage (4.00 °Brix). Green tomatoes had the highest carbohydrate content of 5.99 g/100 g, followed by breaker tomatoes with 5.71 g/100 g, while the lowest CHO (4.17 g/100 g) was observed from tomatoes at turning stage. The pH decreased from 4.98 (green) to 4.60 (light red). Protein content was highest (13.05%) from red tomatoes and lowest in pink samples (10.22%). Fruit diameter was negatively correlated with fruit color (r = -0.748, P≤0.05) and °Brix (r = -0.787, P≤0.05). A highly negative correlation occurred between fruit age and pH (r = -0.949, P≤0.05). There was a high positive correlation between fruit diameter and total titrable acidity (r = 0.959, P≤0.05). Optimal harvesting should occur at breaker for distant markets and fruit with red outer colour be proposed for local consumers. Maturity indices for determining harvest time of tomato is a combination of fruit age, diameter and color, because these correlate significantly with physico-chemical and nutritional characteristics including total soluble solids (TSS), total titrable acidity (TTA) and protein content.
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    Nondestructive maturity assessment tools for commercially viable fruits and vegetables in Uganda
    (African Journal of Plant Science, 2017) Okiror, Paul; Lejju, Julius Bunny; Bahati, Joseph; Kagoro Rugunda, Grace; Sebuuwufu, Collins Inno
    Fruit and vegetable maturity at harvest influences transportation and storage requirements as well as market value. However, small scale farmers in Uganda lack technologies for maturity assessment leading to high pre- and post-harvest losses and low financial returns from fruit and vegetable farms. This study, therefore, assessed the development of fruits (pineapple, passion fruit, watermelon) and vegetables (cabbage, egg plant, pumpkin and tomato), determined optimal maturity indices and fabricated and tested nondestructive tools for maturity assessment. Propagation trials and testing of tools were undertaken at Nangabo and Kangulumira sub counties in central Uganda. The findings show that eggplant, passion fruit, pineapple and pumpkin underwent 3 distinct development stages during which their diameter, length and outer colour changed. Cabbage remained green, but its bulb diameter and length varied with maturity. Watermelon had 4 development stages with significant (P≤0.05) changes in morphology and outer colour. Tomato fruits had 6 distinct outer colour changes. Age and colour were maturity indices for passion fruit. Fruit age and diameter were the maturity indices for watermelon. Age, diameter, length and colour were the maturity indices for pineapple, tomato and eggplant