Evaluation of Radio Frequency–Hot Water Treatments for Postharvest Control of Codling Moth in `Bing' Sweet Cherries

Abstract

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. Cydia pomonella, heat treatment, quarantine, fruit quality SUMMARY. Quarantine regulations require domestic sweet cherries (Prunus avium) exported to Japan to be treated to control codling moth [Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)]. The current procedure, methyl bromide fumigation, may be discontinued because of health, safety, and environmental concerns. To examine a potential alternative method, 'Bing' sweet cherries were each infested with a codling moth larva, submerged in a 38 °C water bath for 6 minutes pretreatment, then exposed to various temperatures generated by radio frequency and held at that temperature for different times: 50 °C for 6 minutes, 51.6 °C for 4 minutes, 53.3 °C for 0.5 minutes, and 54.4 °C for 0.5 minutes. Insect mortality was evaluated 24 hours after treatment and fruit quality was evaluated after treatment and after 7 and 14 days of storage at 1 °C. No larvae survived at the 50 and 51.6 °C treatments. Fruit color of non-infested cherries was darkened as temperature increased. Stem color was severely impacted after 7 days of storage, even in a warm water bath of 38 °C for 6 minutes, as was fruit fi rmness at the same treatment. Fruit quality loss increased after 14 days of storage, compared to after 7 days of storage. The amount of pitting and bruising of cherries increased with temperature and again this increase was more evident after 14 days of storage.

Developing radio frequency technology for postharvest insect control in milled rice

“…For example, hot water preheating combined with short RF treatments was used for control of codling moth in cherries (Hansen et al, 2005), and apples (Wang et al, 2006a), and Mexican fruit fly in persimmons (Tiwari et al, 2008). The lack of RF heating uniformity in fresh fruits often results in unacceptable product quality Birla et al, 2005;Hansen et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2006a).…”

“…For example, hot water preheating combined with short RF treatments was used for control of codling moth in cherries (Hansen et al, 2005), and apples (Wang et al, 2006a), and Mexican fruit fly in persimmons (Tiwari et al, 2008). The lack of RF heating uniformity in fresh fruits often results in unacceptable product quality Birla et al, 2005;Hansen et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2006a). However, RF disinfestation treatment protocols have been successfully developed for many dry agricultural products, such as beans Jiao et al, 2012), walnuts Wang et al, 2007b), coffee beans (Pan et al, 2012), almonds (Gao et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2013), and chestnuts (Hou et al, 2014).…”

Radio frequency treatment of foods: Review of recent advances

“…The role of shape and geometry of loads was often not considered in the past but, as discussed in Section 5, they are often key parameters for the heating patterns. Some of previous authors, with co-workers, applied RF heating to fresh apples ''Red delicious" , ''Gala", ''Fuji" and ''Delicious" (Hansen et al, 2006a,b) and to 'Bing' sweet cherry (Hansen et al, 2005;Monzon et al, 2006) always claiming the effectiveness of RF treatment for pest control, with no major changes in the quality attributes of processed fruits. Birla et al (2005) assessed also the impact on orange quality (weight loss, loss in firmness, colour change, total soluble solids, acidity and change in volatiles) of RF treatments designed to control Mediterranean fruit flies.…”

Quarantine pests of tropical and subtropical fruits and their control

“…Radio frequency-hot water treatments for postharvest control of codling moth in 'Bing' sweet cherries were examined as a potential alternative method by Hansen et al (2005). 'Bing' sweet cherries were each infested with a codling moth larva, submerged in a 38°C water bath for six minutes pretreatment, then exposed to various temperatures generated by radio frequency and held at different temperatures and durations: 50°C for six minutes, 51.6°C for four minutes, 53.3°C for 0.5 minutes, and 54.4°C for 0.5 minutes.…”