# Effect of Postharvest UVB Irradiation on the Fruit of cv. Dottato (_Ficus carica_ L.)
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Chemical Analysis
#### 3.2.1 Sugar Content  
Fig fruits are considered'monosaccharide accumulating fruits'; glucose and fructose are the main soluble sugars in the flesh and the skin, whereas sucrose is present in much lower concentrations or absent [55; 56; 57]. The levels of glucose and fructose sugars in the flesh and the skin are shown in Figure 5. Sucrose, which was determined to be only present in trace amounts or absent, was not quantified in this study. The results showed that the content of total and individual sugars increased gradually during the storage period in both the skin and the flesh of all samples (Figure 5A,B). In the skin, at T0, the average total sugar content in the UVB treated fruits was 608.91 mg/g, while in the control fruits it was 599.66 mg/g, of which about 53% was glucose and 47% was fructose for all samples. No statistically significant difference was observed between the \(-\)UVB and +UVB (Figure 5A). After 7 days of storage, statistically significant differences were observed in the total sugar content: UVB treated fruit showed an increase of about 46 mg/g, in particular, the increase was attributable to glucose which ranged from 357.22 mg/g in +UVB60 to 326.7 mg/g in \(-\)UVB10. At T2, both glucose and fructose increased moderately (Figure 5A). +UVB had an average glucose value of 367.5, while the control figs had an average of 340.5 mg/g. The fructose registered an average of 329.2 mg/g in the UVB irradiated skin, and 307.4 mg/g in the \(-\)UVB skin. The same trend was observed in the soluble sugars of the flesh. No statistically significant difference was found at T0 (Figure 5B). At T1, the sugar content increased in the UVB treated samples and continued to grow even at time T2. After 10 days of storage, the total sugar content ranged from 758 mg/g in +UVB60 to 693.6 mg/g in \(-\)UVB60 (Figure 5B). In our results, differences were observed between UVB treated and control samples, whereas the duration of treatment (10 and 60 min) did not affect the total and individual soluble sugar content (Figure 5B).  
In several fruits, the composition and proportion of sugars determines the quality of taste, the sweetness, and the flavor. Furthermore, they influence the quality of processed products and play an important role in the synthesis of aromatic substances and secondary metabolites [58; 59]. UV treatments have been associated with an increase in soluble sugars, as observed in UVC-treated apples (9.0 kJm\({}^{-2}\), [60]), UVB treated peaches (1.44 kJm\({}^{-2}\), [61]), UVB treated lemons (22 kJm\({}^{-2}\), [28]), and UVA-, UVB-, and UVC-treated sweet oranges (100 umol m\({}^{-2}\) s\({}^{-1}\), [62]. Therefore, the modulation of the sugar concentration during fruit storage can prevent post-harvest losses and maintain sensory characteristics. Some authors have suggested physiological mechanisms of UV action on the increase of carbohydrate binding to enzymatic factors such as sucrose-hydrolyzing and synthesizing enzymes: invertase, sucrose synthase, and sucrose phosphate synthase [28]. Our findings agree with the abovementioned studies. In _Ficus carica_ fruit, it was observed that different postharvest treatments influence the accumulation of sugar content in the first 15 days of storage without negatively influencing important fig quality parameters [63; 64].