Effect of Gamma Irradiation on Post-harvest Shelf life and Quality of Aggregatum Onion (Allium cepa L. var. aggregatum Don.)

Author: K.R. Krishna Kumar, P. Irene Vethamoni, A. Senthil and H. Usha Nandhini Devi

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Abstract

The shelf life of aggregatum onion need to be increased in order to open export opportunities worldwide. To extend the shelf life, research was started with selection of CO4 variety and treated with gamma irradiation of different dosages (0 Gy, 10 Gy, 50 Gy, 100 Gy, 150 Gy and 200 Gy) and stored at room conditions. At monthly interval evaluation, it shown significant difference (p<0.05) in physiological and biochemical parameters with respect to different doses. After 4 months of storage, it was cleared that treatment of 100 Gy showed less moisture loss, physiological weight loss with high marketable yield and total sugars followed by 150 Gy with less rotting loss and high sulphur content at the end of the storage. However, Marketable bulb (%) determines the profitability of exporting, it is concluded that treatment of 100 Gy extends the shelf life of onion bulbs with less losses and high marketable bulb %. So, this would extend shelf life of onion bulb without disturbing its qualities and its pungency for which its well-known. As it was easy to irradiate tons of bulbs in this advanced world, we hope this would benefit both farmers and consumers.

Keywords

Irradiation, small onions, storage, sprout inhibition, qualities

Conclusion

It is well known that the gamma irradiation extends shelf life by controlling the sprouting and rotting without affecting its nutritional value. Basically, it controls sprout in onion by inhibiting the synthesis of endogenous growth promoting hormones. In this study, onion bulbs treated with different dosages of gamma irradiation reveals that the gamma irradiation of 100 Gy shows less moisture loss, physiological weight loss with high marketable yield and total sugars followed by 150 Gy which shows less rotting loss with high sulphur content. Ascorbic acid content which is sensitive to radiation is lesser in irradiated bulbs than the unirradiated bulbs and the protein content was moreover similar in all bulbs at the end of the storage period. From these results, it was confirmed that the Gamma irradiation of 100 Gy should be the best treatment to extend shelf life of onion than the other treatments up to 4 months under ambient conditions with high marketable bulb and minor biochemical changes which does not affect its nutritional qualities.

References

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How to cite this article

K.R. Krishna Kumar, P. Irene Vethamoni, A. Senthil and H. Usha Nandhini Devi (2023). Effect of Gamma Irradiation on Post-harvest Shelf life and Quality of Aggregatum Onion (Allium cepa L. var. aggregatum Don.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(8a): 168-176.