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 w...