Extending the use of irradiation to preserve chemical and bioactive properties of medicinal and aromatic plants: A case study with four species submitted to electron beam

• Aromatic plants were irradiated by electron beam to improve their conservation.
• Fatty acids and bioactive indicators showed the highest discriminating ability.
• Electron beam is more adequate than gamma irradiation.

The effects of gamma irradiation on Aloysia citrodora, Melissa officinalis, Melittis melissophyllum and Mentha piperita were previously evaluated. Herein, the same species were treated with electron-beam irradiation (EB) and the same parameters were evaluated. Instead of presenting absolute values for each studied parameter, data were evaluated as percentage of induced variation. Besides the newly obtained results, data from a previous work was recalled and normalized in the same manner. Several examples of percentage variations specific to a plant species or irradiation condition were found. Nevertheless, it was not possible to identify unequivocal trends. Even so, when evaluated in an integrative way, the parameters with highest discriminating ability among irradiation conditions or plant species were fatty acids and bioactive indicators. Comparing the effects of gamma and EB irradiations, it might be concluded that the most suitable solution to irradiate aromatic plants would be EB, independently of the used dose.