Gamma rays may hold the key to effective post-harvest storage of agricultural produce in the country. The controlled application of gamma rays on fruits and vegetables,scientists say,not only increases their shelf-life by inactivating spoilage micro-organisms but also disinfects them of flies and insects. Gamma irradiation on onions,for instance,has shown good results in increasing the shelf-life by checking sprouting in bulbs and tubers. Commercially,thus,gamma rays may be an answer to the huge loss incurred in post-harvest storage in the country. With 160 million tonnes of horticulture produce per year,out of which 85 million tonnes are vegetables and 50 million tonnes are fruits,India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Even as India is among the 40 countries that have regulations in place permitting irradiation of food,the gamma irradiation technology appears to be in its infancy here. While in developed countries,50 per cent of horticulture produce is irradiated,in India the corresponding figure is only two per cent, says Dr Bhupinder Singh,the Principal Scientist and Radiological Safety Officer at Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI),PUSA. Dr Singh is among those working on the viability and potential of irradiation technology for use of gamma rays on agricultural products. There is tremendous scope and huge commercial viability of irradiation technology in India,according to Dr Singh. The technology,he says,can save up to 50 per cent of the produce that otherwise gets perished or is not fit for human consumption. While gamma irradiation technology is being used on mangoes at few places in India for extension of its shelf-life,it can also be used on potatoes,spices and meat products, says Dr Singh,adding that countries such as the US have made its application mandatory on quarantine measures for mangoes imported from India. It would be good if we can increase the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables. Theres 20 to 25 per cent loss in the post-harvest storage of fruits in Punjab alone. If this loss can be overcome by increasing the shelf-life of the produce,it would be a big advantage for the farmers. They would not go for distress sale of their produce and would be in a position to market their produce in a more effective manner, says Punjab Horticulture Director L S Brar. Punjab,Brar says,produces 10 lakh tonnes of fruits,including grapes,peach and mango,annually. Jagtar Singh,a farmer from the Malwa region of Punjab,who recently attended a workshop at the IARI,where farmers were briefed about the technology,is all praise for it. If it works in the same manner as we were told,it would definitely reduce post-harvest storage losses, Jagtar Singh says.
