COMPARATIVE-STUDIES BETWEEN FUMIGATION AND IRRADIATION OF SEMIDRY DATE FRUITS

This experiment was carried out on Egyptian semi-dried date fruits ''E L-Seidi CV.'' which are used to process paste of dares. It is aimed to compare the effect of irradiation (1.5, 3.0 kGy) and fumigation with methyl bromide (MB) on physical, chemical and mycological characters, especially production of aflatoxins during storage of the dates for lo ng time (8 months). Irradiation was more effective in de-infestation o f dates than MB, but caused significant loss in weight of dates. No si gnificant changes were observed in irradiated samples as well as in MB samples for moisture content, pH-values and titratable acidity, but s ignificant changes were observed in browning and sugars, either total, reducing, non reducing or sugar/acid ratio. Irradiation (3.0 kGy) was more effective than other treatments for inhibition of the growth of fungi and prevention of aflatoxin production in synthetic broth media or date fruits. Therefore, irradiation dose (3.0 kGy) can be recomende d to use than fumigation (MB) to keep date fruits with good quality, f ree from infestation, contamination and more safe for human consumptio n during long storage period.