Browsing by Author "MKANDA, Abdallah Ramadhani"

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Delaying the ripening of bananas to prevent spoilage by means of 1-methyl cyclopropene
(SUA, 2013) MKANDA, Abdallah Ramadhani
In order to determine the effectiveness of 1-methyl cyclopropene (1-MCP) in .delaying ripening of harvested and mature desert bananas and hence reducing spoilage of banana, experiments were conducted using a total of 300 fingers of banana. Fingers were treated with concentrations of 1 ppm and 200 ppm of the 1- MCP, under normal and under controlled atmospheric conditions. The overall'results indicated that there was an average of 2 days shelf life increment by using the 1- MCP at the concentration of 1 ppm when the application was done during the early ripeness stages where the mature bananas were still totally or almost totally green. In addition, the overall results indicated that there was an average shelf life increment ■ of 3 days when the 1-MCP was applied at the same concentration of 1 ppm and then storing the bananas in air tight chambers. There was no significant effect when die 1- MCP was applied under normal atmosphere when the bananas were on the ripeness stages 4th or 5th and onwards, where beyond stage 7 of ripeness the bananas would be declared rotten. The 200 ppm of 1-MCP applied under normal atmosphere when the bananas were on their 4lh and 5th stage of ripening shortened the shelflife by one day . when fingers of bananas were detached from the hands. Moreover. l-MCP was significantly effective (p <0.05) in prolonging the shelf life of the banana mainly with fingers on the hand. So. it was determined that in order to retard ripening of banana more effectively by using 1-MCP, the concentration of l-MCP should be about I ppm and with the banana lingers on hand and stored in closed containers soon after the application of the 1-MCP.