Impact of postharvest UV-C and ozone treatment on textural properties of white asparagus (<em>Asparagus officinalis</em> L.)*

Authors

  • S. Huyskens-Keil
  • K. Hassenberg
  • W. B. Herppich

Abstract

Optimization of postharvest treatments and storage requirements to reduce microbiological spoilage is essential for the food supply chain of asparagus. In this context, Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) treatments such as UV-irradiation and washing with ozonated water gain more and more importance. Information on UV-C and ozone as postharvest treatment for quality assurance of white asparagus is scanty. In the present study, asparagus spears were harvested and exposed to the above mentioned treatments and their combination. The infl uence of both postharvest treatments on biomechanical and biochemical textural related cell wall metabolism was investigated. UV-C-irradiation and washing with ozonated water resulted in a slight reduced respiration in white asparagus spears, but increase in spear tissue toughness. Total cell wall compounds were only tendentiously reduced after 4 days of shelf-life at 20 °C by application of aqueous ozone and UV-C. However, the dosages used in this experiment were relatively low and, hence, did not have pronounced effects. Furthermore, the possible mechanism of UV-C and ozone mediated changes in textural related enzyme activities of white asparagus spears have to be investigated in more detail.

Downloads

Published

2012-03-27

Issue

Vol. 84 No. 2 (2011): Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality

Section

Article

License

From Volume 92 (2019) on, the content of the journal is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Any user is free to share and adapt (remix, transform, build upon) the content as long as the original publication is attributed (authors, title, year, journal, issue, pages) and any changes are labelled.

The copyright of the published work remains with the authors. If you want to use published content beyond what the CC-BY license permits, please contact the corresponding author, whose contact information can be found on the last page of the respective article. In case you want to reproduce content from older issues (before CC BY applied), please contact the corresponding author to ask for permission.