Sucrose and color profiles in sugarcane (Saccharum sp.) juice analyzed by UFLC-ELSD and Synapt High-Definition Mass Spectrometry during radiation treatment

This work evaluated the effect of electron beam irradiation (E-beam) on sugarcane juice and compared the results with preliminary tests performed on sugarcane juice treated with gamma irradiation. The samples were irradiated at 5, 10 and 20 kGy doses and results were compared wile control samples without irradiation. The results showed a significant increase (p≤0.05) of phenolic compounds in both treatments. We also observed increased contents of reducing sugars (glucose and fructose) for the samples irradiated with gamma rays and E-beam measured by the DNS methods. However, there was no significant difference of sugars content measured by chromatographic analyses performed in the sugarcane juice treated with E-beam. Therefore reducing sugars content could be overestimated by the DNS method because salts in sugarcane juice. The treatments were able to reduce sugarcane juice ICUMSA color intensity in both treatments with irradiation. E-beam reduced sugarcane juice color by roughly 49% compared the control, while gamma irradiation reduced it by 30%.