# Effect of Postharvest UVB Irradiation on the Fruit of cv. Dottato (_Ficus carica_ L.)
## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Morpho-Anatomy and Fruit Quality Parameters  
The analyses of whole fruit quality parameters (weight loss, firmness, and decay evaluation) are shown in Figure 2. After irradiation no macroscopic damage was observed in the fruits; suggesting that UVB treatments did not negatively affect the fig fruits. After the treatments (T0), the analysis of the average fruit weight showed no statistically significant differences between control (42.6 g) and UVB treated fruits (41.5 g). During storage after all treatments, as expected, there was a decline in the weight of the fruits (expressed as loss of weight percentage), however, the UVB treatments affected the weight of the figs. The weight loss of the fruits, after being in storage for 7 days (T1) and 10 days (T2) for 10\({}^{\prime}\) exposure (+UVB10) was 30.5% and 42.1%, respectively, that is 4.7 and 5.1 percentage points (pp) less compared to the control (\(-\)UVB10), respectively. For 60 min exposure (+UVB60), the weight loss was 33.2% at T1 and 41.4% at T2, so 3.5 and 3.2 pp less than the control (\(-\)UVB60, Figure 2), respectively. The analyses of fruit firmness, carried out on the whole fruit, showed a different performance in +UVB treated figs, in comparison to the control fruits (Figure 2). During storage, fruit firmness decreased in all samples and reached a minimum level on the 10 th day. The firmness values were higher in +UVB treated fruits as reported in Figure 2, +UVB60 recorded 0.15 and 0.12 kgf more than the control after 7 and 10 days in storage, respectively, while +UVB10 showed 0.09 and 00.4 kgf more than \(-\)UVB10 at T1 and T2, respectively. The positive effects of radiation on firmness are in agreement with the results obtained with weight loss. In addition, Figure 2 shows the chroma (C*), lightness (L*), and hue angle (H\({}^{\circ}\)) parameters and total chlorophyll content. Initially, all samples were green in color; later, during storage, the skin of the fig fruits changed color, varying from green to brown. This trend, as shown in Figure 2, was more evident in \(-\)UVB fruits, where the brown color covered almost the entire surface of the fruit at time T2. During the storage period (T1 and T2), the C*, L*, and H\({}^{\circ}\) values decreased in all of the fruits. However, significantly higher H\({}^{\circ}\) values were in the UVB treated fruit. At T1 H\({}^{\circ}\) was 111.3\({}^{\circ}\) and 112.2\({}^{\circ}\), respectively, in +UVB10 and +UVB60, and at T2, it was 102.7\({}^{\circ}\) and 107.6\({}^{\circ}\), respectively. This may result in a greener tone of the skin. In green fruits, color is prevalently determined by chlorophyll a and b pigments. At T0 no statistically significant difference was observed in the total chlorophyll content, which was about 20 mg/mg (Figure 2); although, during storage, the content decreased and at T2, the \(-\)UVB samples showed a chlorophyll loss of about 39 percent while the UVB treated samples showed a loss of about 29 percent compared to the initial condition. Figure 2 shows the percentage of fruit decay assessed by visual and microscopic analysis. Areas of fig fruit decay, evidenced by color change and/or the presence of fungi and bacteria, increased with the storage period and were visible in all samples, with the highest values at the end of the experiment (Figure 2). The average decay value of the \(-\)UVB fruits was 58.5% at day 7, then increased to 76.8% at day 10, while the +UVB fruits showed average values of 39.5% and 64.1% after 7 and 10 days of storage, respectively. UVB irradiation appears to reduce the incidence of decay, and this trend was markedly significant in +UVB60, which performed the best in both the T1 and T2 storage periods. After 7 days, +UVB60 showed only 27% decay, at T2, only 61.2% (Figure 2). Figure 2: Effect of UVB treatments (+UVB10 and +UVB60) on Dottato fig fruits and relative controls (\(-\)UVB10 and \(-\)UVB60) at T0 (immediately after the treatment), T1 (after 7 days) and T2 (after 10 days) of storage.