Field trial of Vastrapur cartons

Abstract

We present in this paper the results of road transport trial of newly developed tomato packaging named Vastrapur Carton. Farm fresh tomatoes were taken from Khanderaopura village to Rajkot a distance of 250 km. Two trials were made. In one trial, entire truck was loaded with Vastrapur Carton only. This was done to determine the effect of physical location of cartons in the carrier on damage to produce and to packages. The result revealed that the damage to produce was more on the lower tiers than the upper, more near the axle than away from it, more on the left side (towards the shoulder of the road) than the middle and rightward. In second trial, one half of truck was loaded with conventional Peti and other half with Vastrapur Carton. Overall damage to produce in Peti was found to be higher (4.6%) than in Vastrapur Cartons (2.8%). This difference is like to increase with increase in transport distance.