PRODUCTION OF NUTRACEUTICALS IN CARROT BAGASSE USING ABIOTIC STRESSES

The processing of plant foods results in the production of many by-products, which are normally considered as waste.
For instance, the bagasse is the main processing by-product during the production of fruit and vegetables juices.
Plant tissues such as the bagasse can respond to abiotic stresses (i.e., UV-light, temperature, wounding) synthesizing phenolic compounds (PC), which are chemicals of high pharmaceutical and nutraceutical value.
The PC can be used for the prevention of different chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular.
Therefore, it is interesting to explore the possibility of using the bagasse as starting material for the production of PC. The present project objective was to determine if the application of abiotic stresses such as wounding, UV-light and temperature can induce the accumulation of PC in bagasse, using carrot bagasse as a model system.
The bagasse was exposed to UV-C light (30, 60 and 120 min), and then incubated at 25°C for 48 h.
During storage, the total phenolics (Folin-Ciocalteu assay) and the antioxidant activity (ORAC value) were determined.
The samples stored for 48 h showed higher accumulation of PC, where the PC of the control increased ~600% compared with time 0 h samples.
Likewise, the highest ORAC value was observed on the bagasse treated with UV-light for 120 min, and 48 h of incubation, with an increase of ~183% compared with time 0 h samples.
These results indicate that the application of abiotic stresses in carrot bagasse can be used to produce nutraceuticals.

VII International Postharvest Symposium

J.C. Sánchez-Rangel, J. Benavides , D.A. Jacobo-Velázquez

chlorogenic acid, antioxidant, UV-C light, wounding, total phenolics, ORAC

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2013.1012.199