Changes in Postharvest Disease Development and Ripening of 'Ambul' Bananas Treated with Acid and Alkaline Substances Compared to a Benlate Treatment
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Date
1996-08-10
Authors
Perera, N.
Karunaratne, A. M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya
Abstract
Some non-pesticidal postharvest treatments were tested on Ambul bananas to compare their effects with that of a commercial fungicide. Since it was found that the pH value of peels of Ambul bananas reduced from 5 to 4, with ripening, acid and alkaline substances were dissolved in distilled water separately, and were infiltrated into harvested fruits under pressure (4.3 x 10-3 Kg m-2) for 5 min. When a 0.4% NaHC03 solution was used, ripening and disease development were delayed by a day. When different concentrations of acetic acid were used, 0.2% acetic acid caused over 70% reduction of total disease, a 4 days' delay in disease appearance and a 2 days' delay in ripening. Dipping in Ben1ate (1.2g in II) for 10 min. eliminated diseases significantly, but the fruits ripened a day earlier than the controls. A 0.1% citric acid solution caused disease appearance to advance by a day. When conidia of Colletotrichum musae were inoculated on to a series of acidified Cook's No.2 broth cultures, the fungus did not grow below a pH of 4.0. Work is proceeding to determine the biochemical basis of these treatments.
Description
Keywords
Banana , Postharvest diseases
Citation
Proceedings of the Annual Research Sessions, August 10,1996, Uninversity of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, pp 147