Microwave technology applied in post-harvest treatments of cereals and legumes

For agricultural purposes microwave heating is an emerging technology today successfully applied in postharvest disinfestation treatments of many agricultural products, such as cereals and legumes, susceptible of degradation due to the presence of natural infesting fauna. Microwave irradiation is proposed as an effective alternative to chemical methods of disinfestation which can be characterized by severe side effects. Extensive studies focused on disinfestation treatments assisted by microwave have proved their effectiveness. Overall goal of the present research is to point out correlations between thermo-physic properties and irradiation conditions (power, time to exposure, load configuration) to stabilize cereals and legumes in short time without damages of structures and nutritive features. In this work, two kinds of agro-foods, weak wheat and beans, were undergone to microwave heating and several physical properties, devoted to control structural possible changes, were investigated on irradiated samples. The achieved results show that the applied irradiation protocol globally does not affect water uptake phenomena in swelling and cooking treatments, peel hardness and germination capability of seeds.