Ripening Regulation of Banana Cv. Malbhog Using Different Ripening Inducers

Abstract

This experiment was carried out under the study entitled “Ripening regulation of the banana Cv. Malbhog using different ripening inducers” for controlling the ripening of the banana, for improvement of quality attributes and post-harvest life of banana. The experiment was conducted at laboratory of horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal from 14th March to 16th April 2019. These experiments were laid out in completely randomized design in which the first experiment comprised of seven treatments consisting of distilled water spray, ethephon @ 250 ppm, ethephon @ 500 ppm, ethephon @750 ppm, ethephon@1000 ppm, Dhurseli (Colebrookea oppositifolia) leaves and Ripe banana replicated thrice. Different post-harvest parameters were recorded at the interval of two days for the experiment till any one of the treatment attained score 6 in the color chart. In this experiment, the CI-6 stage was reached earlier on the 9th day with the use of ethephon @ 1000 ppm but ethephon @ 500 ppm was found more effective regarding quality parameters with TSS (21˚B), and TSS/TA (34.66). The maximum physiological loss in weight (12.927%) and pulp peel ratio (3.65) was observed with ethephon@1000ppm and the minimum was achieved in banana sprayed with distilled water. The shelf life of banana was seen minimum (13.33 days) in ethephon @ 1000 ppm and maximum (20.33 days) in banana sprayed with distilled water.

Keywords

• banana
• ethephon
• postharvest life
• ripening inducer
• quality