Simple quality prediction measurements for stored onions

Abstract

Onion (Allium cepa) is an important crop that is cultivated and consumed all over the world. It is the second most produced horticultural vegetable crop (after tomato) based on weight. In order to be available year-round in Sweden, onions must be stored for several months during the cold part of the year, when no fresh onions can be harvested. However, dormancy break resulting in early sprouting is a common quality problem during storage. Before visible sprouting, changes in the bulb chemical composition takes place, including relocation of oligosaccharides and breakdown of larger sugar molecules into smaller units that are then used as energy during the sprouting process. In this project we used a hand-held reflectometer to measure levels of mono- and disaccharides and calcium in onion bulbs that had been stored for different time periods in order to evaluate the usefulness of the method for quality control. Measured contents of glucose and calcium changed significantly during storage while sucrose content remained relatively unchanged.

Keywords

Allium cepa; calcium; postharvest; reflectometry; storage; sugar

Published in

Acta Horticulturae
2023, number: 1364, pages: 183-186
Title: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Postharvest Technologies to Reduce Food Losses
Publisher: International Society for Horticultural Science

Conference

31st International Horticultural Congress (IHC) - Horticulture for a World in Transition / International Symposium on Postharvest Technologies to Reduce Food Losses, AUG 14-20, 2022, Angers, FRANCE

SLU Authors

• Kleman, Isabella

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hellström, Maria

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Rosberg, Anna Karin

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Becher, Paul

  • Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Mogren, Lars

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Horticulture

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1364.24
• ISBN: 978-94-62613-63-8
• eISBN: 978-94-62613-63-8

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/122115