EFFECT OF DOSE AND DOSE-RATE OF IRRADIATION ON EMULSIFYING CAPACITY OF CHICKEN PROTEINS

The effect of dose and dose-rate of irradiation on emulsifying capacity (EC) of chicken proteins stored at 4-degrees-C were studied. On day one of storage, the electrophoretic pattern indicated a decrease of myosin band (210 000 daltons) concomitant with an increase of applied dose and dose-rate. While the irradiated products at doses lower than 9 kGy and low dose-rate (4 kGy/h) and at a dose of 1.5 kGy at a high dose-rate (32.5 kGy), presented an EC significantly higher than (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.05) the control product (18.7 g of oil/mg of protein). The decrease in myosine does not seem to affect the EC of the irradiated products nor does it appear solely responsible for the EC. During storage at 4-degrees-C an increased EC was observed in the irradiated samples and the control until a maximum was reached, followed by a decrease. At low dose-rate, irradiation delays the onset of the maximum concomitant with the dose. At high dose-rate, the dose does not seem to affect the onset of the maximum. The hydrolysis of proteins in fractions of lower molecular weights could be the cause of this EC increase. However, gel electrophoresis did not show the presence of new bands concomitant with the decrease of myosin.