P.R. Hussain*and P. Suradkar
Astrophysical Sciences Division, Nuclear Research Laboratory, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Srinagar, 190024, India. Corresponding e-mail:mutteebar@gmail.com, phussain@barc.gov.in
Abstract: Matured table apricots harvested at commercial maturity were irradiated in the dose range of 0.25-1.0 kGy and stored under refrigerated (3±1
0C, RH 85 %) conditions. The fruits were evaluated at intervals of 5 days for various physico-chemical parameters. Studies revealed that phytosanitary irradiation treatment maintained the storage quality of table apricots under refrigerated conditions. Positive correlations (r = 0.89) existed between irradiation treatment and firmness retention, whereas an inverse correlation (r = –0.86) existed between radiation and water-soluble pectin. Color scores revealed that L, a and b values increased by 13.1%, 68.9% and 21.5% in un-irradiated apricots compared to 6.1%, 44.9% and 14.1% in samples irradiated at 1.0 kGy, after 30 days of storage. During storage, ascorbic acid decreased by 86.8% in control compared to 56.2% in 1.0 kGy treated apricots. Phytosanitary radiation treatment at 1.0 kGy caused a significant (p ? 0.05) increase (7.5%) in total phenolics, besides minimizing subsequent degradation of phenols during storage. Microbial analysis indicated that in samples irradiated at 0.75 kGy and 1.0 kGy, no microbial load was detected up to 10 and 20 days of storage and resulted in about 1.0 log reduction in microbial load after 30 days of storage.
