Studies on Pre-cooling and Storage of Banana for Extension of Shelf Life

Abstract

Pre-cooling of banana can contribute to a great extent in increasing the shelf life. Banana bunches harvested at 3/4th of full maturity and hands with blemish free uniform fingers were cut, washed, weighed, marked and given precooling (forced air cooling, hydro-cooling, dipping each at 50C, 80C and 100C), waxed and control treatments. The temperature of cooling media and fruit pulp centre was measured. Immediately after pre-cooling, light drying and fungicidal application of Bavistin, the samples were shifted to three storage environments viz. ambient condition (30 ± 30C), zero energy cool chamber (25 ± 10C at 90 – 95 % RH), and cold storage (13.5 ± 0.50C, at 85-90 % RH). The stored samples were evaluated periodically for physiological loss in weight (PLW), spoilage, ripeness and quality (appearance, firmness, shrivelling). The wax treatment was better for banana storage at ambient temperature and in zero energy cool chamber, and at par with pre-cooling treatments for banana for cold storage. Only deciding factor was cost of waxing or pre-cooling versus shelf life extension. Pre-cooling of banana, by any of the three methods, at temperature of 50C, 80C or 100C gave additional 5 days of shelf life in cold storage. Alternatively, shelf life advantage of 3 days could also be obtained if pre-cooled using either forced air cooling or hydro cooling at temperature of 50C, 80C or 100C and stored under evaporative storage conditions.