Effect of postharvest illumination of Lamb’s lettuce (Valerianella locusta L.) on sugar metabolism and keeping quality.
Enninghorst A., Lippert F.
5th International Postharvest Symposium . Volume of Abstract . Verona, Italy 6-11 June 2004. page 17
2004
บทคัดย่อ
Effect of postharvest illumination of Lamb’s lettuce (Valerianella locusta L.) on sugar metabolism and keeping quality.
Few publications have shown that postharvest illumination of fresh produce can improve quality of leafy vegetables by extending their shelf-life.As an easy method to prolong the period for marketing, postharvest light application is expected to be welcomed and introduced for food retailers.While cooling is one of the most powerful tools to extend shelf-life by reducing catabolic processes and transpiration, photosynthesis is an anabolic process and can still take place after harvest, especially in leafy vegetables.Hence, lamb’s lettuce (Valerianella locusta) was used as model plant to quantify the influence of illumination on quality maintenance during storage.The lamb’s lettuce was kept in the dark and in light for 3 weeks at 10 °C and flushed with constant 2% CO2, 20% O2 and 78% N2 in humidified air.Rates of weight loss were lower in the dark variant, caused by closed stomata.Leaves, which were illuminated, showed extended keeping quality because of delayed decrease in sugars concentrations.The result obtained underlines previous findings where the sugar status went along with quality.