The Role of Ethylene on Banana Fruit Ripening Via Sugar and Starch Metabolism

Abstract

Banana as a climacteric fruit has a relatively short shelf-life period and thus, technologies that decrease the metabolism and the triggering of the maturation process are extremely necessary on its postharvest conservation. However, the consequences of these technologies on quality attributes are unknown. Therefore, we evaluate the effects of 1-Methylcyclopropene associated with low density polyethylene bags on physical and chemical attributes in the postharvest of banana fruits. Bananas were treated with different concentration of 1-Methylcyclopropene as 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 ηL.L-1 under refrigeration and harvest in five different times after treatment. Further, fruits treated with 50 ŋL.L-¹ showed a more advanced stage of ripening after the 25 days of storage. Altogether, our results suggest 1-MCP is an effective treatment to control sugar and starch metabolism in banana and its efficiency is directly dependent of storage temperature. Additionally we identify interestingly correlation with skin color changes with sugars and starch content, which can indicate its potentiality of the fitted equations for prediction of central metabolism of bananas non-destructively using ‘hue angle and chrome’ value.