Efficacy of Gamma Irradiation in Improving the Microbial and Physical Quality Properties of Dried Chillies (Capsicum annuum L.): A Review

Dried chilli is one of the highly traded spices globally and is well-known for its natural flavour, colour, and unique pungent taste. It is rich in nutrients and has medicinal benefits. During the dehydration and storage process, the proliferation of unwanted microorganisms in dried chilli is unavoidable. Recently, the occurrence of toxigenic fungi and faecal coliforms has been widespread that can cause severe illness and even death. Therefore, sanitation treatment is highly required to decontaminate undesirable microorganisms. Among the common sanitation treatments applied, food irradiation is gaining attention worldwide because of concern for post-harvest loss, foodborne disease, and more stringent regulation in dried chilli trading. Irradiation can successfully preserve dried chilli from pathogenic bacteria with minimal disturbance to critical physical properties, such as pungency and colour. It can also save dried chilli from secondary pollution by storing it into final packing before radiation which helps in distribution to market promptly after treatment. Furthermore, radiation does not leave any chemical residues after the treatment, ensuring the quality and safety of the dried chilli. The efficiency of radiation depends mainly on the initial level of contamination and the persistence of the harmful microorganism. A low irradiation dose is sufficient for dried chili to reduce microbial load to an acceptable level and eliminate pathogens even though a minimum radiation dose of 10 kGy is required for complete sterilization. However, high dosage may affect the colour properties. Gamma radiation, X-ray, and electron beam radiation are the three approved radiation sources for dried chilli in most countries and proven effective for dried chilli preservation. Thus, this review paper highlights the microbial and physical quality properties in gamma radiated dried chillies.

Arginine Methyltransferase PeRmtC Regulates Development and Pathogenicity of Penicillium expansum via Mediating Key Genes in Conidiation and Secondary Metabolism

Penicillium expansum is one of the most common and destructive post-harvest fungal pathogens that can cause blue mold rot and produce mycotoxins in fruit, leading to significant post-harvest loss and food safety concerns. Arginine methylation by protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) modulates various cellular processes in many eukaryotes. However, the functions of PRMTs are largely unknown in post-harvest fungal pathogens. To explore their roles in P. expansum, we identified four PRMTs (PeRmtA, PeRmtB, PeRmtC, and PeRmt2). The single deletion of PeRmtA, PeRmtB, or PeRmt2 had minor or no impact on the P. expansum phenotype while deletion of PeRmtC resulted in decreased conidiation, delayed conidial germination, impaired pathogenicity and pigment biosynthesis, and altered tolerance to environmental stresses. Further research showed that PeRmtC could regulate two core regulatory genes, PeBrlA and PeAbaA, in conidiation, a series of backbone genes in secondary metabolism, and affect the symmetric ω-NG, N’G-dimethylarginine (sDMA) modification of proteins with molecular weights of primarily 16–17 kDa. Collectively, this work functionally characterized four PRMTs in P. expansum and showed the important roles of PeRmtC in the development, pathogenicity, and secondary metabolism of P. expansum.

Physicochemical characterization and microbiology quality of the Pentadesma butyracea fruit pulp collected from various parks in Benin

In Benin, P. butyracea fruit pulp undergoes significant post-harvest loss due to its low valorization. The collected fruits in five parklands from a survey of transformer's perception were characterized through their visual observations, the determination of their dimensions and pulp proportions. The nutritional value of pulp was evaluated through its chemical characterization. The results of this study revealed that four shapes (ellipsoid, globular, ovoid, ellipsoid twisted) identify the physical aspect of P. butyracea fruits in the P. butyracea parklands. The average length, diameter at the equator, mass and pulp proportion of fruits were 130.93 mm, 86.98 mm, 125.63 g and 35.79%, respectively. The physicochemical characterization showed that the P. butyracea fruit pulp contained 3.37–3.41 pH, 3.33–4.61% protein, 20.37–20.78% fiber, 2.78–3.57% ash, 6.31–6.51% crude lipid, 85.77–86.47% moisture, 21.54–23.22 mg/mL total phenolics, 0.73–1.03% titratable acidity, 65.10–66.94% carbohydrates, 335.75–338.99 kcal calorie and minerals (Ca, Fe, Zn, Mn). The antioxidant activity result showed that the P. butyracea fruit pulp is a valuable source of antioxidant pigments. Faecal coliforms are not detected in pulps and the aerobic mesophilic bacteria, yeasts and moulds, and Staphylococcus aureus were below detection level in P. butyracea fruit pulps.

Government Policies, Financial Scopes and Technological Usages for Agricultural Development and Post-Harvest Loss Reduction in Algeria

Agriculture is considered to be a vital aspect of Algeria’s national economy and rural development. Achieving sustainable agricultural production, generating employment, reducing imports and minimising post-harvest crops losses are the major objectives of the Algerian government. However, based on the evaluation of existing policies, this study found that poor governance is hampering the agriculture sector, particularly in terms of management of financial resources, where most financial investments are made only for short-term gains. The lack of awareness about the importance of post-harvest practices and lack of using modern technology threaten the growth of this sector. Adopting sound post-harvest methods can reduce food losses and wastage in every stage of the food supply chain, and integration of modern techniques, skilled labour, and education training systems are very important if agriculture in Algeria is to progress.

PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF APPLE IN APPLE SUB-SECTOR DOLPA, NEPAL

Dolpa is the largest district and one of the major apple-producing districts of Nepal. It had seemingly an increasing trend of production and productivity of apple despite having low productivity than the national average. A study was carried out to study the production and marketing status of the district. Preliminary studies were done and a household survey was carried out among 125 apple-growing farmers from different wards of Tripurasundari and Thulibheri Municipality. 10 commercial farmers in Juphal along with five wholesalers and retailers each based in Nepalgunj were also interviewed to observe the marketing status of apple. 16.59 % of the income was generated through apple production behind government jobs and other agricultural activities. Apple farming was found profitable with BC ratio of 1.39. Training, technical assistance, experience, and landholding were found to have a positive influence on the apple-growing farmers. The overall productivity of apple in the area was 7.55 MT per ha, which was lower than the national average. Improper Post-harvest handling and storage facility had created a post-harvest loss of 14.33 %. Most of the produce was marketed within the district only due to lack of good roads. Lack of irrigation and insect pest attack were the major production problems whereas lack of storage and poor transportation as the major marketing problems. Increasing the frequency of extension works, technical assistance and good transport of the produce were needed to be focused.

Development of a low-cost ice crusher for raw fish storage

The fisheries sector in Bangladesh undergoes various post-harvest problems: the high post-harvest loss of fish. As fish is highly perishable, it needs proper handling, processing, and distribution in time. Ice is the major and primary material that is used in Bangladesh for fish preservation. Different methods are used for crushing ice. In the traditional method, ice is crushed with a heavy load by hand. This method is very laborious and most often does not provide a uniform shape. So, an attempt was taken to develop a low-cost ice crusher machine in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. Based on the design and drawing, the machine was manufactured. Necessary materials to construct the machine were collected from the local market. The machine throughput capacity of the developed ice crusher was found 854.85 kg/hr. with an overall loss of 10.5%. Based on the test parameters, the machine performance was found satisfactory. The machine construction cost was estimated as Tk 11048. The operating cost for ice crushing was calculated, and it was found to be Tk 0.07/kg. This machine was simple at construction and the cost is also low, which indicates that the machine is suitable input for ice crushing to the marginal user. Where electricity is not available and large commercial heavy ice crushers are not available, this machine can be very suitable.