Influence of pretreatments on metabolism and wounding response of fresh cut potatoes evaluated with isothermal calorimetry”. Acta Horticulturae, 682, vol.3: 1833-1838, 2005.

The anti-browning effects of acidificant and antioxidant substances in potatoes have been broadly studied in the literature. However, to our knowledge there is no information about their effects on the metabolism of the wounded tissue. We here have studied the influence of anti-browning substances on the metabolism of fresh-cut potatoes. Cylinders were prepared from potatoes and treated with solutions of citric and ascorbic acid, and of a citric-ascorbic acid combination. The metabolic heat production was measured in closed glass ampoules in a TAM Air isothermal calorimeter for 24 hours at 20°C. Interestingly, the results showed that all the treatments accelerated the metabolism of the samples, e.g. the treated potato pieces consumed the oxygen inside the calorimeter ampoules about 8h before than the untreated samples (control). The effect of ascorbic and in particular of citric acid on the measured metabolic heat was mainly on “normal” metabolic activity rather than on the wounding response.