L-Arginine to inhibit browning on fresh-cut salacca (Salacca edulis Reinw)

Abstract

The research aimed to study the effect of various concentration of L-arginine and time of immersion in inhibiting enzymatic browning on fresh-cut Salacca. The experiment was conducted in Single Factor Completely Randomized Design with treatments as follows: (P0) Control, (P1) L-arginine 50 mM and immersion time 5 min, (P2) L-arginine 50 mM and immersion time 10 min, (P3) L-arginine 50 mM and immersion time 15 min, (P4) L-arginine 100 mM and immersion time 5 min, (P5) L-arginine 100 mM and immersion time 10 min, (P6) L-arginine 100 mM and immersion time 15 min, (P7) L-arginine 150 mM and immersion time 5 min, (P8) L-arginine 150 mM and immersion time 10 min, (P9) L-arginine 150 mM and immersion time 15 min. The result showed that L-arginine prevented synthesis of phenolic compound that promotes browning development. However color measurement of fresh-cut Salacca indicated that L-Arginine was able to prevent browning only up to 9 days. Meanwhile various immersion times did not give significant difference in preventing browning. Based on weight loss and hardness analysis, L-Arginine was able to prolong the quality of fresh-cut Salacca. The result in this study will be elaborated and used as a reference to develop non-destructive method using SVM (Support Vector Machine) to analyze the degree of browning on fresh-cut Salacca.