Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., which is commonly known as jackfruit is a tropical climacteric fruit, belonging to Moraceae family, is native to Western Ghats of India and common in Asia, Africa, and some regions in South America. It is known to be the largest edible fruit in the world. Jackfruit is rich in nutrients including carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. Both the seeds and the flesh of jackfruit are consumed as curries and boiled forms, while the flesh in fully ripen stage can be eaten directly as a fruit. Several countries have developed different food products such as jam, jellies, marmalades, and ice creams using pureed jackfruit. The several parts of jack tree including fruits, leaves, and barks have been extensively used in traditional medicine due to its anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, and hypoglycemic effects. Despite all these benefits, unfortunately, the fruit is underutilized in commercial scale processing in regions where it is grown. The aim of this review is to disseminate the knowledge on nutritional and health benefits of jackfruit, in order to promote utilization of jackfruit for commercial scale food production.

Ripening is a genetically programmed highly coordinated irreversible phenomenon which includes many biochemical changes including tissue softening, pigment changes, aroma and flavour volatile production, reduction in astringency, and many others. Banana is one of mostly consumed fruit crops in the world. Since banana is a climactic fruit, induced ripening is essential in commercial scale banana cultivation and distribution to assure good flavour, texture, and uniform peel colour. Ethylene gas, acetylene gas liberated from calcium carbide, and ethephon are some of the commercial ripening agents used successfully in the trade and they have been widely studied for their effectiveness on initiating and accelerating the ripening process and their effect on fruit quality and health related issues. Lauryl alcohol was also shown as a ripening agent for bananas. Most studies suggest that there is no difference in biochemical composition and sensory quality in bananas treated with chemicals that induce ripening from naturally ripened bananas. However volatile profiles of artificially ripened bananas were shown to be considerably different from naturally ripened bananas in some studies. This review discusses induced ripening agents and their effect on fruit quality of bananas.

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The present study was conducted to investigate effect of induced ripening agents on aroma profile, organic acids and sugars of Ambul banana (Musa acuminata, AAB). Mature green bananas that are in same maturity stage were subjected to 1000 ppm ethephon and 1000 ppm acetylene and kept at 20°C, 80–85% RH for ripening. Aroma profile was analyzed by SPME-GC-MS, while organic acids and sugars were tested by HPLC. Naturally ripened banana was found to be more aromatic than acetylene- and ethephon-treated banana having highest number of volatile compounds (27) and high level of esters (65%). Malic acid, citric acid, and oxalic acids were significantly low in treated bananas compared to naturally ripened bananas. Glucose and fructose, which are major types of sugars in ripe banana flesh, were significantly low in acetylene-treated banana, while sucrose was not detected in both ethephon- and acetylene-treated samples at fully yellow stage. Although ethephon and acetylene trigger the ripening process, they lead to poor aroma profile and lower levels of organic acids and sugars in flesh of banana.

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