Facebook
Twitter
Reddit
Pinterest
Tumblr
Delicious
LinkedIn
StumbleUpon
Fruit Produce Facts English
Banana
Recommendations for Maintaining Postharvest Quality
Adel A. Kader Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis
Maturity & Quality
Maturity IndicesDegree of fullness of the fingers, i.e., disappearance of angularity in a cross section. Bananas are harvested mature-green and ripened upon arrival at destination markets since fruits ripened on the plant often split and have poor texture. Quality Indices
Maturity & Quality Photos
Title: Banana Ripening Chart Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Maturity Stages Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Ripening vs. Starch Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis
Temperature & Controlled Atmosphere
Optimum Temperature13-14°C (56-58°F) for storage and transport 15-20°C (59-68°F) for ripening Optimum Relative Humidity90-95% Rates of Respiration Production
1Low end for mature-green bananas and high end for ripening bananas. 2To calculate heat production multiply ml CO2/kg·hr by 440 to get Btu/ton/day or by 122 to get kcal/metric ton/day. Rates of Ethylene Production
1Low end for mature-green bananas and high end for ripening bananas Responses to EthyleneMost commercial cultivars of bananas require exposure to 100-150 ppm ethylene 24-48 hours at 15-20°C (59-68°F) and 90-95% relative humidity to induce uniform ripening. Carbon dioxide concentration should be kept below 1% to avoid its effect on delaying ethylene action. Use of a forced-air system in ripening rooms assures more uniform cooling or warming of bananas as needed and more uniform ethylene concentration throughout the ripening room. Responses to Controlled Atmospheres (CA)
Temperature & Controlled Atmosphere Photos
Title: Banana Respiration Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Ethylene Effects Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis
Disorders
Physiological and Physical DisordersChilling injury. Symptoms include surface discoloration, dull or smokey color, subepidermal tissues reveal dark-brown streaks, failure to ripen, and, in severe cases, flesh browning. Chilling injury results from exposing bananas to temperatures below 13°C (56°F) for a few hours to a few days, depending on cultivar, maturity, and temperature. For example, moderate chilling injury will result from exposing mature-green bananas to one hour at 10°C (50°F), 5 hours at 11.7°C (53°F), 24 hours at 12.2°C (54°F), or 72 hours at 12.8°C (55°F). Chilled fruits are more sensitive to mechanical injury. Skin abrasions. Abrasions result from skin scuffing against other fruits or surfaces of handling equipment or shipping boxes. When exposed to low (<90%) relative humidity conditions, water loss from scuffed areas is accelerated and their color turns brown to black. Impact bruising. Dropping of bananas may induce browning of the flesh without damage to the skin. Pathological DisordersCrown rot. This disease is caused by one or more of the following fungi: Thielaviopsis paradoxa, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Colletotrichum musae, Deightoniella torulosa, and Fusarium roseum--which attack the cut surface of the hands. From the rotting hand tissue the fungi grow into the finger neck and with time, down into the fruit. Anthracnose. Caused by Colletrichum musae, becomes evident as the bananas ripen, especially in wounds and skin splits. Stem-end rot. Caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae and/or Thielaviopsis paradoxa, which enter through the cut stem or hand. The invaded flesh becomes soft and water-soaked. Cigar-end rot. Caused by Verticillium theobromae and/or Trachysphaera fructigena. The rotted portion of the banana finger is dry and tends to adhere to fruits (appears similar to the ash of a cigar). Control StrategiesMinimizing bruising; prompt cooling to 14°C (58°F); proper sanitation of handling facilities; hot water treatments [such as 5 minutes in 50°C (120°F) water] and/or fungicide (such as Imazalil) treatment to control crown rot. [For more information, see our publication "Fruit Ripening and Ethylene Management", available for purchase using our Pubilication order form.] Disorders Photos
Title: Anthracnose (1) Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Anthracnose (2) Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Chilling Injury (1) Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Chilling Injury (2) Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Chilling Injury (3) Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Cigar-end Rot Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Creased Stems Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Crown Rot (1) Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Crown Rot (2) Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Fusarium roseum Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Gray Mold Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Impact Bruising Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Lasiodiplodia theobromae Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Skin Abrasions Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Thielaviopsis paradoxa Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis 
Title: Verticillium theobromae Photo Credit: Don Edwards, UC Davis
Date
November 1996 |
Use of Materials
The UC Postharvest Technology Center grants users permission to download textual pages (including PDF files) from this World Wide Web site for personal use or to reproduce them for educational purposes, but credit lines and copyright notices within the pages must not be removed or modified.
Except for these specified uses, no part of the textual materials available on the UC Postharvest Technology Center Web site may be copied, downloaded, stored in a retrieval system, further transmitted or otherwise reproduced, stored, disseminated, transferred or used, in any form or by any means, except as permitted herein or with the University of California's prior written agreement. Request permission from UC Postharvest Technology Center. Distribution for commercial purposes is prohibited.
The information in this fact sheet represents our best understanding of the current state of knowledge at the time of the latest update, and does not represent an exhaustive review of all research results. Links to any of these UC Postharvest Technology Center pages are permitted, but no endorsement of the linking site or products mentioned in the linking page is intended or implied by such a link.
How to Cite
Author(s) names. Initial publication or update date (located at the top). Title. Link to the specific Produce Fact Sheet webpage (Accessed date)
Example: Cantwell, M. and T. Suslow. 2002. Lettuce, Crisphead: Recommendations for Maintaining Postharvest Quality.
http://ucanr.edu/sites/Postharvest_Technology_Center_/Commodity_Resources/Fact_Sheets/Datastores/Vegetables_English/?uid=19&ds=799 (Accessed January 18, 2014).
