PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BANANAS PRODUCED IN CONVENTIONAL AND ORGANIC CULTIVATION SYSTEMS

The demand for organic fruit grows every year around the world and banana can show growth in this sector both in the domestic and in the foreigner market. However, there is a lack of information that supports the production of organic fruit and that confirms the advantages and disadvantages of the cropping systems. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate bananas from conventional tillage and organic relation to physical aspects. It was used Caipira (AAA), Maravilha (AAAB), Pacovan Ken (AAAB), Prata Ana (AAB), Thap Maeo (AAB) and Tropical (AAAB) cultivars. Organic farming was used in green roof (Canavalia ensiformis and Arachis pintoi) and fertilization with organic compost, rock phosphate, castor bean and wood ashes. In conventional farming it was not used green cover, proceeding only the chemical fertilization with urea (100 kg ha(-1)), simple superphosphate (280 kg ha(-1)) and potassium chloride (540 kg ha-1). It was evaluate the physical attributes, number of fruit per bunch, diameter (cm) and fruit length (cm), shell thickness (mm) and chemical attributes, total soluble solids (TSS) pH, total acidity (TTA), humidity (H) and soluble sugar (reducing, non reducing and total). There were no significant differences between organic and conventional crops on these parameters, Tukey test at 5% probability. Virtually there were no differences in the characteristic of banana produced in the organic or traditional systems.