Effects of electron‐beam irradiation on postharvest strawberry quality

Abstract

To safeguard the ecosystem and facilitate the international trade of fresh agricultural products, phytosanitary treatments, particularly newly emerged electron-beam (e-beam) irradiation, are recommended because they are eco-friendly and do not adversely affect postharvest preservation. However, the effects of this technique on “Maehyang” strawberries are unknown. Therefore, herein, the effects of e-beam irradiation (≤1 kGy) on postharvest preservation of strawberry during storage were evaluated. E-beam irradiation reduced the microbial population, decay extent, and weight loss of strawberries in a dose-dependent manner without affecting total soluble solids content, pH, and titratable acidity. During storage, total/individual phenolic contents, total anthocyanin content, and antioxidant activities of irradiated fruits increased more slowly than those of non-irradiated fruits and maximized at the end of the storage. E-beam irradiation prevented sensory degradation and color and firmness changes. Therefore, the e-beam-irradiation-based phytosanitary treatment can efficiently mitigate the deterioration of consumer acceptance and improve postharvest preservation of strawberries. Practical applications E-beam irradiation of strawberries with a 1-kGy dose resulted in microbial decontamination, reduction in decay extent and weight loss, inhibition of color, firmness and chemical quality changes, and sensory quality retention without adversely affecting fruit quality parameters such as total soluble solid content, pH, and titratable acidity during storage. Thus, low-dose e-beam irradiation can be used for the phytosanitary treatment of strawberry to improve postharvest preservation and sensory quality. The easy transportation of these treated strawberries to otherwise unreachable distant market, as evident from our results, and the product quality improvements such as better sensory and color characteristics open opportunities for new markets and increase consumer acceptance, even at higher prices.