Efeito da radiação UV-C durante o cultivo de morangos: aspectos bioquímico-fisiológicos e tecnológicos.

Abstract

In order to study the effect of changes resulting from UV-C radiation (254 nm) applied during the cultivation of strawberry cv. Aromas and cv. Albion and during the growing season of strawberry cv. Aromas were evaluated: firmness, content of total phenols, total anthocyanins, carotenoids, ascorbic acid, antioxidant activity and phenylalanine amonioliase enzyme activity, texture and superficial color. The UV-C applied during the going don‟t changed the firmness of cv. Aromas, but the fruits of cv. Albion treated with UV-C resulted in lower firmness. The UV-C tratament in cv. Aromas resveted in fruits with higher weight, and for cv. Albion no diference were found. An increase in ascorbic acid, phenolic content, anthocyanins and antioxidant activity, as well as an increase in PAL activity was observed in the treated fruits. Thus, the UV-C application during cultivation promotes the induction of antioxidant molecules synthesis, such as phenolic compounds and anthocyanins possibly as a result of increased PAL enzyme activity. Evaluating the application of UV-C during the vegetative cycle of stolon formation, was obtained that plants produce fruits withearly maturity the 8 days, with higher content of L-ascorbic acid, anthocyanins and carotenoids, without affecting the yield per plant or the weight of fruit. With these results, it can be concluded that the application of UV-C radiation during the previous crop cycle affects the quality of the fruits of continuous cultivation.