Abstract:
This study was carried out to evaluate the effect
of packaging materials on the shelf life of three banana
cultivars. Four packaging materials, namely, perforated
low density polyethylene bag, perforated high density polyethylene bag, dried banana leaf, teff straw and no packaging
materials (control) were used with three banana cultivars,
locally known as, Poyo, Giant Cavendish and Williams I.
The experiment was carried out in Randomized Complete
Block Design in a factorial combination with three replications. Physical parameters including weight loss, peel colour, peel thickness, pulp thickness, pulp to peel ratio, pulp
firmness, pulp dry matter, decay, loss percent of marketability were assessed every 3 days. Banana remained marketable for 36 days in the high density polyethylene and low
density polyethylene bags, and for 18 days in banana leaf
and teff straw packaging treatments. Unpackaged fruits
remained marketable for 15 days only. Fruits that were not
packaged lost their weight by 24.0 % whereas fruits packaged in banana leaf and teff straw became unmarketable
with final weight loss of 19.8 % and 20.9 %, respectively.
Packaged fruits remained well until 36th days of storage
with final weight loss of only 8.2 % and 9.20 %, respectively. Starting from green mature stage, the colour of the
banana peel changed to yellow and this process was found
to be fast for unpackaged fruits. Packaging maintained the
peel and the pulp thickness, firmness, dry matter and pulp to
peel ratio was kept lower. Decay loss for unpackaged banana fruits was16 % at the end of date 15, whereas the decay
loss of fruits packaged using high density and low density
polyethylene bags were 43.0 % and 41.2 %, respectively athe end of the 36th day of the experiment. It can, thus, be
concluded that packaging of banana fruits in high density
and low density polyethylene bags resulted in longer shelf life
and improved quality of the produce followed by packaging in
dried banana leaf and teff straw.
