Postharvest Heat Treatments to Extend the Shelf Life of Banana (Musa spp.) Fruits
Advances and Trends in Agricultural Sciences Vol. 1,
Page 27-37
Abstract
Bananas are grown in the world mainly for their economic and nutritional value. High perishable nature of banana leads to quality deterioration which distracts consumer and hence high postharvest losses in the market. Climacteric nature of banana make these postharvest losses accelerate by triggering ethylene induced ripening process. Extending banana shelf life could be a considerable commercial benefit for both exporters and retailers. Treatments such as fungicides, heat treatments and low temperature storage are being applied for extending the shelf life of banana. However, nowadays, increased public concern over presence of chemical residues has progressively leads the adoption of heat treatment methods which substitutes as a non-damaging physical treatment for chemical prevention. Heat treatment is one of effective postharvest techniques which have been using as a plant quarantine procedure in other fruits. Indeed, the overall quality of fresh produce treated with optimal hot water temperatures is significantly better than untreated produce, as determined by a sharp reduction in decay incidence and maintenance of several quality traits. Heat treatment can be applied as vapor heat, hot water immersion (hot water dip) of the fruit until the core temperature reaches required effective temperature depending on cultivar. Banana fruit ripening effectively can be delayed by application of hot water treatments such as 40°C for five minutes. These treatments are not negatively effect on fruit taste, brix value around 40°C treatments. Further, more positively suppressed the microbial growth on fruit surface which supportive to the extend shelf life of banana. All findings related to heat treatments on banana suggest that hot water treatment, 40-50°C depending on cultivar, is most suitable for delaying de-greening and hence delaying the ripening during storage at ambient temperature. Food taste and soluble solid content not affected badly by hot water treatments especially up to 40ºC. Microbial growth effectively controlled by hot water treatment over 40°C. As with all this it can be concluded that heat treatments led to increase postharvest life without affecting the food quality of banana.
Keywords:
- Banana
- postharvest life
- de-greening
- microbial control
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