The research group of Kou Liping, the fruit and vegetable storage and processing team of Northwest A & F University, has made new progress in exploring the potential of X-ray irradiation to preserve winter dates

Recently, the research group of Associate Professor Kou Liping of the fruit and vegetable storage and processing team of Northwest A & F University and Yangling Nuclear Sheng Irradiation Technology Co.
, Ltd.
have made new progress in the project "Research and Development of Electron Beam Irradiation Preservation Winter Jujube Technology", and the research results have been successively in the international food journals "Postharvest biology and technology" and "Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies" on the publication
.

 

The project was set up
to solve the bottleneck problems of easy microbial contamination and deterioration of Dali Dong jujube during storage, easy to lose water and shrink, soft wine, resulting in deterioration of quality, shortening of supply cycle and narrow sales surface.
Compared with many existing storage and preservation methods, X-ray has high power, short wavelength and strong penetration, which can effectively inhibit the growth of microorganisms while minimizing the loss of nutrients, and the dose below 10 kGy will not produce toxicological hazards, safe and environmentally friendly, and is a promising non-thermal preservation technology
.
Therefore, this project uses X-ray irradiation to preserve winter dates, and explores the mechanism of X-ray irradiation preservation
.

 

The results showed that under 0.
3 kGy X-ray treatment, the activities of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR) in jujube were limited, and the relative expression of MYB transcription factors LOC107415776 and LOC107404478 and bHLH transcription factors LOC107407443, LOC107423582 and LOC107423649 were down-regulated, resulting in a decrease in anthocyanin and quercetin synthesis
。 Together with reduced chlorophyll degradation levels, the reddening
of irradiated dates was delayed.
This study proved that 0.
3 kGy X-ray has potential application value
in delaying the redness of winter dates.
The results of the study "X-rays irradiation affects flavonoid synthesis and delays reddening of winter jujube (Zizyphus jujuba Mill.
cv.
Dalidongzao) during cold storage" was published in Postharvest biology and technology, with master's student Guo Xiaohong as the first author and associate professor Kou Liping as the corresponding author
.

 

Original link: https://authors.
elsevier.
com/c/1fV6D3IS6-boVo

 

0.
3 kGy X-ray effectively reduced polygalactonidase (PG), cellulase and β-glucosidase (β-glu) activities while significantly inhibiting the growth of 8.
20% of fungi and 29.
12% of aerobic bacteria, so that pectin decomposition was inhibited
.
At the same time, the peel structure and stomatal morphology of jujube are kept intact, the stratum corneum is kept dense and smooth, the outer epidermal cells are neatly arranged and uniform in size, the subepidermal structure is obvious, the cell membrane permeability and the content of malondialdehyde produced are reduced, and the water loss and softening are alleviated
.
The results demonstrate the potential
of X-rays in the preservation of winter dates.
Research results "X-ray irradiation - nonthermal processing and preservation of fresh winter jujube (Zizyphus jujuba mill.
cv.
Dalidongzao" published in
Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies.
Master student Guo Xiaohong is the first author, Associate Professor Kou Liping is the corresponding author, and Northwest A & F University is the first
.

 

Original link: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
ifset.
2022.
103151

 

Through the research of this project, the value and consumption of winter dates can be added and reduced, and economic benefits
can be directly generated.
The promotion and application of this technology in all winter jujube producing areas across the country will produce higher economic benefits
.
This not only increases the income of enterprise storage, but also enriches the supply of fruits in the New Year's Day and Spring Festival markets, alleviates the contradiction between the production and marketing of winter dates on National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival, and plays an important role
in increasing the income of the majority of winter date growers, promoting local agricultural economic growth and realizing sustainable agricultural development.