Delaying the ripening of bananas to prevent spoilage by means of 1-methyl cyclopropene
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Date
2013
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
SUA
Abstract
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.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Mature desert bananas, Harvested bananas, Controlled atmospheric conditions, 1-methyl cyclopropene