Enhancement of bioactive compounds and nutritional quality of pomegranate arils during storage by ultrasound pretreatment

Abstract

We investigated the efficacy of different ultrasound pretreatments on the physicochemical attributes and decay of pomegranate arils during cold storage. Arils were treated using an ultrasonic processor with an intensity of 45 kHz at different temperatures (4, 20, and 30◦C) and times (5 and 10 min). The results indicated that with an increase in temperature and duration of ultrasound (US), most physicochemical traits of arils preserved better than control. However, appearance quality was higher in lower temperature and duration treatments. US treatment, at 30◦C for 5 and 10 min resulted in the lowest percentage of weight loss (0.71%) and decay (9.66%), respectively. The lowest bacterial (0.39 log CFU/g) and yeast and mold (0.56 log CFU/g) counts were recorded in US-treated arils at 30◦C for 5 and 10 min after 7 days of cold storage. The highest titratable acidity (1.80%) and antioxidant capacity (70.66%) found at 5 min under 20◦C and 10 min under 30◦C, respectively. The highest phenolic content (129.1 mg 100g