Large quantity of food substance and vegetable products are lost in Nigeria due to poor storage conditions leading to high post-harvest losses which negatively impact on the contribution of the agricultural sector to the Nigerian economy. Development of an effective storage medium against the activities of organism that promotes the enzymatic decomposition of fragile vegetable food substances in Nigeria continued to pose some challenges. The comparative performance evaluation of a Developed Vacuum Refrigeration System (DVRS) and Vapour Absorption Refrigeration System (VARS) on the storage life of pumpkin leaves was carried out. Proximate analyses (PA) was carried out on pumpkin leaves to determine its initial nutritional value, the degradation of the nutritional components was monitored every seven days for a period of 28 days through repeated PA test. A sensory evaluation was also carried out during the period of storage. The results indicate that the moisture content and fibre content degraded from 3.42 % to 3.01 % and 0.78 % under the VRS and VARS storage respectively, the VRS could sustain the nutritional value of the leaves by about 88.85% while the sustenance under VARS is 44.99%. The sensory evaluation considered the pumpkin leaves in good condition and acceptable under the VRS storage and bad and rejected under VARS under 28 days of storage. The results established the capability of the VRS in sustaining the nutritional components of pumpkin leaves to 28 days post-harvest with the potentials to enhancing the contribution of the agricultural sector to the Nigerian economy.

Keywords : Vacuum, Refrigeration, Pumpkin Leaves, Proximate Analysis, Vegetable, Agricultural