Low Dose Gamma Irradiation Does Not Affect the Quality or Total Ascorbic Acid Concentration of "Sweetheart" Passionfruit (Passiflora edulis)

John B Golding; Barbara L Blades; Shashirekha Satyan; Lorraine J Spohr; Anne Harris; Andrew J Jessup; John R Archer; Justin B Davies; Connie Banos

doi:10.3390/foods4030376

Low Dose Gamma Irradiation Does Not Affect the Quality or Total Ascorbic Acid Concentration of "Sweetheart" Passionfruit (Passiflora edulis)

Foods. 2015 Aug 26;4(3):376-390. doi: 10.3390/foods4030376.

Authors

John B Golding^{1

2}, Barbara L Blades³, Shashirekha Satyan⁴, Lorraine J Spohr^{5

6}, Anne Harris⁷, Andrew J Jessup⁸, John R Archer⁹, Justin B Davies¹⁰, Connie Banos¹¹

Affiliations

¹ New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. john.golding@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
² School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. john.golding@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
³ New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. barbara.blades@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
⁴ New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. shashirekha.satyan@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
⁵ New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. lorraine.spohr@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
⁶ School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. lorraine.spohr@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
⁷ New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. anne.harris@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
⁸ New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. andrew.jessup@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
⁹ New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Ourimbah NSW 2258, Australia. john.archer@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
¹⁰ Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights NSW 2234, Australia. jbd@ansto.gov.au.
¹¹ Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights NSW 2234, Australia. cbx@ansto.gov.au.

Abstract

Passionfruit (Passiflora edulis, Sims, cultivar "Sweetheart") were subject to gamma irradiation at levels suitable for phytosanitary purposes (0, 150, 400 and 1000 Gy) then stored at 8 °C and assessed for fruit quality and total ascorbic acid concentration after one and fourteen days. Irradiation at any dose (≤1000 Gy) did not affect passionfruit quality (overall fruit quality, colour, firmness, fruit shrivel, stem condition, weight loss, total soluble solids level (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) level, TSS/TA ratio, juice pH and rot development), nor the total ascorbic acid concentration. The length of time in storage affected some fruit quality parameters and total ascorbic acid concentration, with longer storage periods resulting in lower quality fruit and lower total ascorbic acid concentration, irrespective of irradiation. There was no interaction between irradiation treatment and storage time, indicating that irradiation did not influence the effect of storage on passionfruit quality. The results showed that the application of 150, 400 and 1000 Gy gamma irradiation to "Sweetheart" purple passionfruit did not produce any deleterious effects on fruit quality or total ascorbic acid concentration during cold storage, thus supporting the use of low dose irradiation as a phytosanitary treatment against quarantine pests in purple passionfruit.

Keywords: low dose irradiation; nutrition; phytosanitary; quality; storage; vitamin C.