Short immersion in water of temperature above 53?C maintains longer the green colour in rocket

The study was carried out on the rocket salad (Eruca sativa M.) cv. ?Siewna? and wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia L) cv. ?Gourmet F1?. Salad rocket was cultivated on Experimental Field of Research Institute of Horticulture in Skierniewice, but wildrocket was bought from vegetable producer. The plants immediately after harvest were sorted and trimmed, and then treated with hot water. The temperature of hot water ranged 38?57?C and time duration of treatment: 20 min. ? 3 sec. The parameters of hot water were evaluated in successive tests depending on the results obtained earlier. After treatment the leaves were dried, cooled to equal temperature, packed into polystyrene foam trays and stored at room temperature 18 - 20?C. It was found, that after short immersion in water of temperature above 53?C the rocket leaves maintained longer the green colour than not treated leaves. The rocket salad appeared to be delicate very much and a lot of treatments resulted in the tissue maceration. The development of maceration was dependent on the hot water temperature and the time of treatment. The wild rocket was more resistant against tissue maceration. After four days at room temperature, significantly higher marketable value maintained leaves treated in water with temperature 53-55?C than treated in lower temperature? or not treated. SourcesTHE EFFECT OF HOT WATER TREATMENT ON DURABILITY OF ROCKET LEAVESGrzegorzewska, M1, Badelek, E1, Sikorska-Zimny, K1maria.grzegorzewska@inhort.pl1Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice, PolandIHC 2014, International Horticulture Congress, 17-22 August 2014, Brisbane, http://www.ihc2014.org/Picture by www.moffatcan.org