| Despite the numerous solar dryers reported by researchers in Nigeria, farmers in Zaria Nigeria continue to dry tomato by traditional open sun drying method, the inherent problems associated with this method notwithstanding. Therefore this research is aimed at investigating suitable solar collector material that is available, affordable and can easily be worked on by rural farmers. Metal, wood, cement and mud which are commonly available local materials were used to fabricate four types of solar dryers and the dryers were mounted truly facing south. Sliced tomato samples were used for performance test of the dryers. Moisture content of the samples, dryer temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and solar radiation were monitored at 2 hours intervals. ... |
