Abstract

Application of food irradiation for sanitary and phytosanitary purposes to ensure food safety and quality and facilitate international trade, including quarantine measures related to fresh products. The irradiation technique is now emerging as a demanding tool for controlling insect-pests. This technique has been a successful tool against a number of pest species.  In this regard, the study was conducted to evaluate four (0.00, 0.20, 0.40 and 0.60 kGy) gamma irradiation doses and similar storage temperature (Ambient, 9 and 12°C and CA storage at 12°C) against the quarantine pests of alphonso mango fruit. The fruits were exposed to gamma radiation for different doses from the source of ⁶⁰Co. The two year studies revealed that there were no stone weevil and fruit fly incidence in any treatment (gamma irradiation or storage temperature) during study, except unirradiated fruits stored at ambient temperature; recorded fruit fly infestation.

Key words: Fruit fly, gamma irradiation, quarantine pests, stone weevil, storage temperature.