Physiochemical properties, fruit pathology and shelf life of bananas under pre-harvest bunch spray, post-harvest hand dipping and storage period

Losses during the transport and marketing of banana fruits account for 25-50 %. An experiment was conducted at Jorhat, India in 2017-18 and 2018-19 to study the effects of treatments on the shelf life of bananas. The experiment comprising two bunch spray (pre-harvest) treatments, viz. B-1-Calcium chloride 2 % twice and B-2: Tracel 2 % twice, six solutions for hand dipping (post-harvest), viz. H-1: 1 % chitosan, H-2: 30 ppm benzyl adenine, H-3: 2 % calcium chloride, H-4: 1 % garlic extract, H-5: 150 ppm gibberellic acid and H-6: Control (Distilled water) and four storage periods(days), viz., S-1: 3, S-2: 6, S-3: 9 and S-4: 12 was tried in factorial completely randomized design with three replications. Lower values of physiological loss in fruit weight (PLFW), moisture content (MC), pulp: peel ratio, total soluble solids (TSS), pH and pedicel and peel Pectin methyl esterase (PME) specific activity and higher values of titratable acidity (TTA) and ascorbic acid (AsA) content were recorded under pre-harvest bunch spray of Tracel than CaCl2 and hand dipping in various solutions than hand dipping in distilled water. At 12(th) day of storage, B-2 H-5 and B-1 H-5 were the promising treatments with the minimum PLFW, MC, TSS, and pH and the maximum TTA. The treatment B-2 H-5 recorded the maximum fruit shelf life (15 days) under ambient conditions. Fruit shelf life registered significant and positive correlation with TTA and AsA. The results would help in the development of a suitable strategy to prevent post-harvest losses and boost the economy of banana farmers and traders.