Reliable monitoring UV-C irradiation of a specific LED system for application in extending the postharvest life of bananas

Abstract

Antifungal effects of ultraviolet C (UV-C) irradiation have been considered a potential solution to reduce the severity of black spots on postharvest fruits. In this work, a 30 × 30 × 30 cm system was made based on UV-C light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to apply in reducing disease symptoms for bananas which could be used in industrial conveyor belts. The UV-C irradiance monitoring was carefully carried out for several sections at various box heights in simulation and measurement. The findings experienced a dominating range of 6 to 9 W/m2 in the central sections. Regarding in vivo conditions, the observation after a week from experiment showed that the disease symptoms on the UVC-treated banana peel, which was exposed under UV-C light around 5 s, dramatically decreased compared to a natural banana. Consequently, the UV-C dose range is proposed from 0.030 to 0.045 kJ/m2 with minimum damage in terms of sensory properties. Owing to the flexible shape and short exposure time, the system promises to provide many potential applications to prolong the quality of bananas.