Impact of gamma irradiation on the monsooning of coffee beans
2003
Ahmad, R. | Tharappan, B. | Bongirwar, D.R.
Monsooned coffee is a special coffee produced only in India. As the process is carried out during the monsoon period, the time taken for monsooning is dependent on rainfall and atmospheric humidity. Traditional methods employed in the monsooning process favour growth of microorganisms, which may affect the quality of the produce. The present study aimed to understand the role of microorganisms in the monsooning process. Coffee beans (both Arabica and Robusta variety) were subjected to irradiation treatments of 5 kGy (kilo Gray) and 10 kGy doses in order to achieve the above objective. Irradiation led to reduction of natural mycoflora with the 10 kGy dose being more efficient than the 5 kGy dose. Aspergillus niger was found to be the dominant fungus colonising the beans prior to monsooning, whereas A. ochraceus was found dominant during the course of monsooning. The other commonly encountered fungi were species of Aspergillus, Penicillium, Absidia, Syncephalastrum, Mucor and Rhizopus occuring at low numbers. At the start of the monsooning process, irradiated samples showed negligible numbers of microorganisms and also lesser number of fungal species during monsooning compared with the non-irradiated samples. Non-irradiated samples took five weeks for the completion of monsooning compared with two weeks for irradiated samples and hence it may be inferred that microorganisms may be playing a minimal role in monsooning.
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