Development of preservation system of agricultural products by the use of structured water

1996 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 07556141
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 試験
• Research Field: 農業機械学
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: OSHITA Seiichi The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of agricultural and life sciences, Associate professor, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 助教授 (00115693)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KAWAGOE Yoshinori The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of agricultural and life sciences, Assi, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 助手 (80234053) ; SAGARA Yasuyuki The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of agricultural and life sciences, Lect, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 講師 (30012024) ; SEO Yasuhisa The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of agricultural and life sciences, Prof, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 教授 (80011914)
• Project Period (FY): 1995 – 1996
• Keywords: agricultural product / preservation of freshness / structured water / suppression of metabolism

Research Abstract

In order to support experimentally the formation of structured water which principle to suppress metabolism of agricultural products, chemical shift and proton relaxation time were measured by NMR spectrometer. A given mass of distillled water was pored into NMR tube, then xenon gas was superimposed up to 0.7 MPa. The chemical shift of xenon solution was observed to be greater than that of normla water. This indicated the increase in the numbr of hydrogen-bonded water molecules. The decease in spin-lattice relaxation time was also obeserved for xenon solution.
To apply the method for the preservation of broccoli, the respiratoy metabolis of broccoli was measured by applying xenon whose partial pressure was 0.28 MPa at the preservation temperature of 288 K.After 9 days preservation, cumulative quantities were 14125 mg CO2/kg and 10618 mg CO2/kg for control sample and xenon treated sample, respectively. The respiratory activity of xenon treated sample showed 75 % of that observed for the control sample. Persimmons were also examined to preserve by applying 0.3 MPa of kripton, nitrogen and xenon, and to preserve in atmosperic air conditon (control treatment) at the temperature of 283 K.The suppression respiratoy metabolism was observed only for the sample treated by xenon.
From the results mentioned above, proposed method was shown to be valid for the preservation of agricultural products.