Postharvest Heat Treatments to Extend the Shelf Life of Banana (Musa spp.) Fruits | Chapter 04 | Advances and Trends in Agricultural Sciences Vol. 1
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.
Author(s) Details
Dr. P. K. Dissanayake
Department of Export
Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri
Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka.
View Volume: https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/atias/v1
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