For Abstracts

Tiantian Dong, College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China.Yanyan Feng, College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China.Jingying Shi, College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China.Marita Cantwell, Mann Laboratory, Department Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.Qingguo Wang, College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China.Yalin Guo College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China.

Burdock (Arctium lappa L.) known for centuries in China and other Asian countries has been eaten as root vegetable or medicinal plant. It has high nutritional value, healthy effects, high antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity and free radical scavenging activity. Fresh-cut burdock is susceptible to browning. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of ethanol fumigation on inhibiting browning of fresh-cut burdock. In our experiments, burdocks were fumigated with ethanol for 12 hours before cutting or for 5 hours after cutting, then stored at 2~4 degrees C. The results showed that pre or post cutting can effectively inhibit the browning of fresh-cut burdocks. The control slice was browning on day 2, but the treated slices still had good color on day 6-10 in different experiments. Ethanol fumigation reduced the respiration rate, lowered the activity of PPO and PAL, and the content of total phenolic content of fresh-cut burdock. Besides, ethanol fumigation also increased the content of H₂O₂, enhanced the antioxidative capability through DPPH inhibition and CAT activity and decreased the content of MDA. The results indicate that ethanol fumigation can extend the shelf life of fresh-cut burdock by inhibiting its browning and maintaining its quality.