THE EFFECT OF Aloe sp. GEL COATING IN ENHANCING POSTHARVEST QUALITY OF BANANA (Musa sp.)FRUIT

Postharvest losses of fruits are a serious problem because of rapid deterioration during handling, transport and storage. Use of edible coating over fruit is used to improve their quality and shelf life. These can be also safely eaten as part of the product and do not add unfavorable properties to the foodstuff. Recently there has been increased interest in using aloe sp. gel as an edible coating material for fruit and vegetables driven by its antifungal activity. Aloe sp.gel has been proven one of the best edible and biologically safe preservative coatings for different types of foods because of its film-forming properties, antimicrobial actions, and biodegradability and biochemical properties. It is composed mainly of polysaccharides and acts as a natural barrier to moisture and oxygen, which are the main agents of deterioration of fruits and vegetables. Aloe sp. gel has the ability to prolong shelf life of the fruits and vegetables by minimizing the rate of respiration and maintaining quality attributes (color, flavor etc.). The aloe sp. gel coated banana fruits survived the storage period of 15 days at low temperature whereas all the uncoated controls decayed within 10 days. This study was planned to investigate the effect of aloe sp. gel coating in improving post harvest quality, shelf life, sugar and antioxidant (as carotenoid) content of banana fruit. The experiment was laid in completely randomized design (CRD) in two replications. Quantitative data were collected for weight loss, vitamin C(ascorbic acid), total chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, total titratable acidity and reducing sugars. The result indicated that there were significant differences between control and aloe sp. gel treated banana fruit samples for all the studied parameters. Quantitative analysis of organoleptic properties of the fruit has shown that the overall increase in reducing sugars, and carotenoid contents while chlorophyll, vitamin C, total acidity and weight loss decrease during post harvest ripening of banana fruit. Further studies are required on the effect of storage conditions, cultivar differences and environments on fruit quality parameter