Dynamic laser speckle applied to the analysis of maturation process of irradiated fresh fruits

Abstract

The treatment of fresh fruits with different doses of ionizing radiation has been found effective for delaying ripening and, in this way, to extend shelf life. This preservation method is likely to produce some functional or constitutive changes in the cellular structure of the fruit. In this work, a test of the effectiveness of fruit irradiation with relatively low doses was performed by using dynamic speckle imaging. Bananas from a same lot were chosen, being a first series of them irradiated with different doses of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 kGy (Gy = J/kg) and a second series with doses of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 1 kGy. Non irradiated bananas (0 kGy) were considered as the lot reference for contrast. Irradiation was carried out at the Semi-Industrial Cobalt 60 facility of the Ezeiza Atomic Center, with an activity of 6 × 10^5 Curie and a dose rate of 28.5 Gy/min. The objective of this work is to analyze differences in the maturation process between irradiated and non-irradiated fruits by means of dynamic speckle pattern evaluation.