Abstract:
Tomato is one of the most economically important fruit vegetable facing greater
problems in storage because of its perishable nature and reduction of quality. The
irradiation technology plays an important role in controlling the food spoilage by
microorganism, and also enhances the shelf life. The irradiation treatment was
carried out at Institute of Food and Radiation Biology, Bangladesh Atomic Energy
Research Establishment, Ganakbari, Savar, Dhaka, while the parameters were
studied at Postharvest Laboratory of Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla
Agricultural University. Tomatoes were treated with gamma irradiation of different
doses i.e. Ra
0
: 0.00 kGy, Ra
1
: 0.25 kGy, Ra
2
ii
: 0.50 kGy, Ra
3
: 0.75 kGy, Ra
4
: 1.00
kGy. Three different concentrations of aloe vera gel e.g. A0: control, A1: 50% aloe
vera gel, A2: 100% aloe vera gel were used in this present study. Results revealed
that 0.75 kGy irradiated fruits reduced percentage of weight loss, disease severity,
delay ripening, prevented moisture loss (%) and maintained better quality in terms
of titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), p
H
, lycopene, ascorbic acid
content, β-carotene content, and prolonged shelf life compared to other gamma
irradiation treatment. Aloe-vera gel also increase the shelf life of tomato and
maintain better quality as irradiation. Significant variations were found in both shelf
life and quality of tomato in Ra3A2 (100% aloe vera gel+ 0.75 kGy irradiation).
The highest shelf life was 18 days where the lowest value were observed from
control treatment. From this experiment it can be concluded that effect of 0.75 kGy
radiation and 100% aloe vera gel coating is very much suitable for higher shelf life
of tomato
