EFFECTS OF POSTHARVEST TREATMENTS AND PACKAGING MATERIALS ON QUALITY AND SHELF LIFE OF BANANA

Abstract

The experiment was carried out in the Postharvest Laboratory of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka to find out the effect of different postharvest management practices of banana to increase shelf life and quality in ambient condition. Two factors experiment viz. Factor A:- P 0 : No packaging, P 1 : non perforated polythene bag, P 2 : Perforated polythene bag, P 3 : Newspaper and Factor B:- R 0 : no treatment, R 1 : 1- methylcyclopropene (250ppb 1-MCP), R 2 : 4% CaCl 2 , R 3 : Aloe vera gel, R 4 : Ginger extract, R 5 : Hot water at 45 C for 5 minutes were initiated for the experiment. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with four replications. Various data on physical and chemical properties were collected during and at the end of shelf life. In case of packaging material, P 1 showed best performance and showed the highest shelf life (14.44 days) compared to P 0 (9.06 days). Regarding treatment, R 1 gave the best results on studied parameters and showed highest shelf life (14.42 days) compared to other treatments and shortest shelf life (9.33 days) was recorded from R 0 . In case of combined effect of packaging materials and treatments, at 15 days after storage (DAS), the lowest percent weight loss (0.97%) was found from P 1 R 0 whereas the highest weight loss (23.28%) was found in P 0 . The highest percent dry matter content (20.73%), percent total soluble solid (21.0%) and percent non reducing sugar content (6.96%) were also found from the treatment combination P 2 R 1 at 15 DAS whereas P 0 R 0 showed the lowest results (17.50%, 17.17%, 5.47% respectively) on the respected parameters. Similarly, the lowest pulp peel ratio (2.12), percent moisture content (79.23%), percent total sugar (18.52%), percent reducing sugar (11.56%), percent tritable acidity (0.29%) and percent decay (31.00%) were found from P 2 R 1

showed the highest results (4.33, 82.50%, 22.43%, 16.96%, 0.45% and 75% respectively). Likewise, the highest shelf life (15.00 days) was also recorded from P 2 R 1 whereas the lowest (9.00 days) was from P 0 R 0 . So, the treatment combination P 2 R 1 can be considered the best postharvest treatment for banana.