S23 - Session O1 - Effectiveness evaluation of in-store harvesting system by analyzing the VOC of sweet basil with GC-SAW

Authors: Naoki Sakaguchi *, Masahiro Kitajima, Yoshihisa Usami, Riichiro Oka, Naomichi Fujiuchi, Kotaro Takayama

It is known that the quantity and quality of plant-emitted VOCs are affected by biotic and abiotic stresses, and it is possible to monitor plant conditions by measuring VOCs (Takayama et al., 2012). The VOC measurement technology could be used to evaluate the quality of fresh vegetables. Since the quality of aromatic herbs (quantity and quality of aroma) is greatly affected by the management conditions after shipment, appropriate management methods to maintain the quality are required. Farmbox (Farmship, Inc.) is an in-store harvesting system that irradiate light (PPFD: 180 μmol m -2 s -1 ) from the top of the plant body and can maintain the growth of aromatic plants. Therefore, consumers can purchase live aromatic plants. In this study, the quality maintenance effect of the Farmbox was evaluated by comparing it with storage in a common refrigerator. The plant material was sweet basil ( Ocimum basilicum ) grown for 23 days with a cycle of 16 hours of light (PPFD: 300 μmol m -2 s -1 ) and 8 hours of dark and stored in a Farmbox and a refrigerator for one week. The first and second whole leaves (cut at the petiole) were placed in a separable flask (2 L), respectively, and the air in the flask was measured with a portable gas analyzer (GC-SAW). After that, the leaves were shredded using a hand shredder to measure the VOCs emitted after shredded, and these were measured in the same way as whole leaves. Linalool, Cineole, Eugenol (Liber et al., 2011), and (Z)-3-hexenal were targeted for measurement. The results showed that the emission of VOCs (Linalool, Cineole, Eugenol, (Z)-3-hexenal) in the second leaf was higher in the Farmbox than in the refrigeration (p < 0.05). This result suggested that the Farmbox is a storage method that can maintain a higher level of quality compared to common cold storage.