The Effects of Harvest Maturity on Storage Quality and Sucrose-Metabolizing Enzymes During Banana Ripening

Abstract

Mature green "Baxi" banana (Musa spp. AAA Group, Cavendish) fruits were harvested at 60% and 80% maturity stages. In order to evaluate the effects of harvesting at different maturity stages on storage quality and changes in sucrose-metabolizing enzymes, fruit firmness, disease index, contents of starch, and total soluble sugars were determined, and enzyme activities associated with sucrose metabolism was investigated under natural and accelerated (treated with ethylene) ripening conditions. In fruit treated with ethylene, changes in flesh firmness, total sugar content, starch content, disease index, and activity of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS), sucrose synthase (SS), acid invertase (AI), and neutral invertase (NI) were accelerated dramatically compared with untreated fruit with both 60% and 80% maturity. When fruit ripened under natural conditions, the changes in firmness, disease index, starch content, total sugar content, SPS activity, SS, AI, and NI activity in fruit with 80% maturity were significantly faster than those in fruit with 60% maturity. On the contrary, when fruit ripened under accelerated conditions, no significant differences in firmness, sugar, starch, disease index, SPS, SS, AI, and NI were observed between fruit harvested at 60% or 80% maturity. It is suggested that storage quality and sucrose-metabolizing enzymes of banana fruit stored under natural conditions are related to harvest maturity stage; storage quality of fruit with lower harvest maturity is better than fruit with higher maturity. However, when fruit ripening is accelerated by ethylene, the harvest maturity stage has no influence on storage quality and changes in sucrosemetabolizing enzymes.

Effect of Vacuum Frying on Quality Attributes of Fruits

“…The increasing content of glucose and fructose will increase the Maillard reaction that produces brown color. A similar finding was found by Li et al [40] in banana in which the sugar content was increasing as the starch content was decreasing.…”

Quality Aspects of Fruit and Vegetables Dried Convectively with Osmotic Pretreatment

“…During banana ripening the starch transforms into sugar. This process involves enzymes including sucrose phosphate and sucrose synthesis which are responsible for sucrose accumulation in banana fruit (Li et al, 2011). Banana could be processed into a variety of products, especially chips, powder, etc.…”

Functional Properties and Postharvest Utilization of Commercial and Noncommercial Banana Cultivars

“…Storage quality and the activities of sucrose‐metabolizing enzymes of fruits stored under ambient conditions are mostly associated to stage of fruit maturity during harvest. Results of studies conducted by Li and others () on the effects of harvest maturity on storage quality and sucrose‐metabolizing enzymes during banana ripening showed that banana fruit harvested at 60% stage of maturity had a longer storage life than fruit harvested at 80% stage of maturity. Thus, it could be said that fruits harvested at a lower stage of maturity have a longer keeping life than fruit harvested when fully matured or at a higher stage of maturity.…”

“…A major constraint that is related with postharvest handling and preservation of harvested banana is its short shelf life of 6 to 10 d under tropical conditions. Banana at its unripe stage is easy to transport and has a longer shelf life (Meneze and others ; Li and others ). Bananas are highly perishable, with a significant portion of the harvested crop being lost from the farm to the consumers owing to poor handling, storage, and transportation of the fruit (Robinson ; Nakasone and Paull ; Tock and others ).…”