Impact of moderate intensity pulsed electric field (MIPEF) Treatment on Lycopene Content and Lycopene In VitroBioaccessibility of whole tomato

In this study, the impact of moderate intensity pulsed electric field (MIPEF) treatment parameters on enhancing the lycopene content and lycopene in vitro bioaccessibility was investigated. In the first experiment, tomato fruits were treated at 0.4, 1 and 2 kV/cm using 1 or 10 monopolar pulses of 4 μs at a frequency of 0.1 Hz and analysed 24 h after holding period at 4⁰C while in the second experiment, the influence of treatmentintensity (0, 4, 80 and 320 μs) and holding period (0, 24 and 48 h) on lycopene contents and lycopene in vitro bioaccessibility was evaluated. Fresh sample, without MIPEF treatment, showed the lowest lycopene content (23.27±2.13 μg/g FW) and the lowest lycopene bioaccessibility (8.1±1.70%), while all MIPEF treatments (4 or 40 μs) at different electric field strength (0.4-2.0 kV/cm) enhanced the lycopene content and lycopene bioaccessibility. The results of second experiment revealed that the highest duration treatment (320 μs) showed the maximum lycopene enhancement immediately after the treatment (57.98±4.48μg/g) and decreased thereafter. All the treatments except 320 μs sample enhanced the lycopene invitrobioaccessibility after 24 h after holding period and decreased thereafter. The maximum total lycopene bioaccessibility content (9.6%) of whole tomato was achieved by a 4 μs (at 1 kV/cm) treatment after a 24 h holding period.