Study on the Effects of different methods of Delaying Ripening in Avocado Pear and Banana Fruits

Abstract

The safety of the food we consume is a global concern and in Nigeria particularly. In previous decades, fruit processing industries have developed rapidly in Nigeria. To achieve high quality in terms of visual appearance, texture, flavor and nutritional value, fruits must be harvested when they’ve has attained proper maturity. After harvesting, quick ripening of fruits is responsible for reduced shelf life. This issue can be solved either by using preservatives or manipulation of ripening in fruits. Due to its low cost and availability, Formaldehyde has been popularly used as preservatives in Nigeria despite having detrimental health impacts. All these raises very severe health concerns including cancer, male sterility and many more. Considering the present situation in Nigeria, artificially delaying fruit ripening seems to be an encouraging alternative to address the problem and this is also being practiced in many countries. For fruits to successfully ripe, it requires the release of ethylene during the process and ripening of fruit can be delayed by inhibiting the activity of ethylene. The present study tries to evaluate the different safe and cost-effective ways of retarding ripening in avocado pear and banana fruits. Calcium chloride was used to soak the fruits; some were treated with cold treatment while others were placed at room temperature. Ripening was successfully delayed in the cold treated banana and avocado fruits; the external abnormality was quite much and this is a problem. Maybe, in further studies, temperature of cold treatment should be adjusted and regulated in order to reduce fruit external abnormality and thereby, maintain a good fruit skin texture. For the CaCl₂ treatment, flesh colour and flavor development was significantly delayed and the external abnormality was lower. This simply relates that the CaCl₂ treatment will be useful in delaying ripening even for commercial purposes, while room temperature treatment showed similar developments with the control sample.