New work by U.S. researchers advances efforts to scale back Listeria impacts on cantaloupe in chilly storage. And that’s not all.
Take a look at three latest research that deal with completely different angles of this subject.
Laying the Groundwork for Efficient Listeria Remedies for Saved Reduce Cantaloupe
A workforce from USDA ARS and the College of Maryland in contrast each Listeria and pure micro organism progress on fresh-cut cantaloupe and romaine lettuce saved at refrigerated temps (39°F) in addition to abusive temperatures starting from 50°F to 75°F.
“Contemporary-cut cantaloupe supplied favorable situations for Listeria proliferation to overhaul indigenous micro organism.”
They additional famous that Listeria thrived in each refrigerated and abusive temps, although it grew at a quicker charge with greater temperatures.
The workforce discovered Listeria additionally grew on romaine, however at a lot decrease charges.
Additionally they observed that cantaloupe had a lot much less microbial variety than romaine. Earlier than storage, cantaloupe begins out with extra numerous micro organism, whereas romaine principally maintains the range it begins with.
Importantly, the workforce recognized micro organism species, together with Leuconostoc and Weissella spp., which had been current when Listeria rely was low, making them value additional examine as anti-Listeria microbes.
Authors: Ganyu Gu, Brenda Kroft, Marina Lichtenwald, Yaguang Luo, Patricia Millner, Jitendra Patel, Xiangwu Nou
Mixed Inoculants Scale back Listeria and Spoilage
A pair completely different compounds have a monitor document for decreasing Listeria hundreds on cantaloupe rinds. A workforce from Louisiana State College in contrast how a freeze-dried energy model of these micro organism — nisin (NBP) and pediocin (PBP) — carried out individually in opposition to a mixture of the 2.
In brief, the mix decreased Listeria considerably greater than NBP or PBP alone.
The workforce inoculated the cantaloupe and examined outcomes over 16 days of refrigerated storage (at 39°F).
It’s vital to notice the workforce used a non-pathogenic model of Listeria, Listeria innocua NRRL B-33016, as a surrogate of the extra harmful L. monocytogenes. Additionally, all three remedies (NBP, PBP, and the 2 mixed) decreased yeast and mildew counts, which in flip decreased spoilage.
“These outcomes advised that freeze-dried bacteriocin-containing powders didn’t considerably have an effect on the cantaloupes’ high quality parameters after 16 days of refrigerated storage,” the examine authors concluded.
Authors: Alvaro Garcia, Franklin Bonilla, Elio Villasmil, Vondel Reyes, Subramaniam Sathivel
What Is the Finest Technique for Switching from a Cowl Crop to Cantaloupe?
Whereas it’s universally acknowledged that cowl crop techniques assist enhance manufacturing fields, there’s a whole lot of fine-tuning wanted to know find out how to achieve probably the most advantages.
A workforce from USDA ARS Nationwide Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, AL, carried out a three-year examine on how and when to terminate a canopy crop for the perfect impact.
It in contrast three completely different cowl crops — crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum, L.), cereal rye, and bushy vetch (Vicia villosa, L.) — with completely different kill strategies. The kill strategies included flail mowing (used because the management), a two-stage roller-crimper, and a powered roller-crimper.
The workforce measured the dry biomass produced by every cowl crop, inexperienced/dwell matter after termination (by way of a lightweight sensor measuring chlorophyll ranges/greenness), in addition to cantaloupe yield and weight. They used a no-till technique of transplanting the crop for every.
“Termination charges for all cowl crops by the flail mower had been greater in comparison with the roller-crimpers at one and two weeks after rolling,” the workforce concluded. “Three weeks after rolling, there have been no variations by termination strategies for rye. Nevertheless, for bushy vetch and clover, greater termination charges had been observed utilizing flail mowing.”
Cowl crop termination strategies didn’t influence cantaloupe yield. The kind of cowl crop, nevertheless, had a big impact on cantaloupe yield and fruit quantity.
“Based mostly on these outcomes, the very best yield was produced with a cereal rye cowl crop and the bottom was with crimson clover. Nevertheless, climate results and insufficient cowl crop termination for crimson clover contributed to decreased yields in cantaloupe manufacturing,” they famous.
Research: Effectiveness of Cover Crop Termination Methods on No-Till Cantaloupe (2021)
Authors: Ted S. Kornecki and Corey M. Kichler
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Research Lend Perception into Meals Security in Cantaloupes