Quality evaluation of organic vegetables.

Abstract

The project entitled, ‘Quality evaluation of organic vegetables’ was carried out with the objective to study and compare the quality characteristics of organic and inorganic vegetables. Amaranth (Arun), brinjal (Haritha) and cowpea (Jyothika) were the selected vegetables. Parameters like physical characteristics, nutrient composition, antinutrient profile, shelf life, sensory qualities and pesticide residues were studied. Three types of farming practices were identified as treatments. 1) T1 - Organically cultivated vegetables (PGS certified ) 2) T2 - Organic input vegetables (PGS certified ) 3) T3 - Inorganic vegetables (from local farmers ) PGS was the certification adopted by the organic bazaar operational at Jawahar Nagar, monitored by the NGO (Thanal, Thiruvanathapuram). No significant difference was observed for the physical characteristics of the vegetables under different treatments except for the length and breadth of brinjal, it was observed to be significantly high in inorganic brinjal. Assessment of nutritional qualities revealed that calcium content was significantly high in organic amaranth, where as betacarotene content was significantly higher in inorganic amaranth compared to organic. As for cowpea there was no significant difference observed among treatments for any nutrient. In brinjal vitamin C content was significantly higher in organic brinjal compared to inorganic ones. Shelf life analysis showed that brinjal, cowpea and amaranth in all treatments kept well for similar periods without much variation. Pesticide residue analysis reported that inorganic vegetables like cowpea and brinjal contained detectable amount of malathion which was above the maximum permitted residue limit. In this study, on analysis of the results in general, physical qualities, sensory qualities, nutritive profile and shelf life parameters are seen to be on par amongst the organically and inorganically cultivated vegetables. However, the major concern is the presence of pesticide residue which has great health and environmental implication.