Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
adjustment occurs and the fruits are packed into cardboard cartons, with a
thin plastic liner to prevent chafi ng injury and water loss. Hands or clusters
are tightly packed to avoid movement during shipping. Carton sizes vary
from 12 to 20 kg, with Central American cartons holding 18.1 kg of fruit.
Cartons may then be cooled to 13°C before shipping to market. In small local
operations, bunches may be sold, with dehanding taking place upon sale to
the consumer. Alternatively, hands may be shipped to market in a number of
dif erent containers. Export dessert bananas, because of the regular nature of
the hands and curved nature of the fi ngers, can be easily packed. Many other
cultivars are not as easily packed, as the fi ngers are not arranged in a regular
manner, e.g. 'Pisang Mas' (AA).
Green bananas are shipped at 13-14°C to delay ripening. Lower
temperature can lead to chilling injury, whose symptoms include a dull, grey
skin colour, poor ripening, poor conversion of starch to sugar, poor fl avour
development and susceptibility to decay. Symptom development is dependent
upon exposure temperature and time, and susceptibility depends mostly on
the cultivar. Maturity, prior growing conditions and previous temperature
exposure may also be factors. 'Dwarf Cavendish' shows injury after 20 days at
11°C and 'Lacatan' after 12 days at 14°C. Plantains, such as 'Pisang Awak',
are less susceptible to chilling injury than dessert types.
Marketing
Market quality standards vary widely, with export bananas having the most
stringent standards. In large measure, this is related to consumer preferences
and the condition of the bananas received at the market. In western
supermarkets, unblemished fruits are preferred, even required, while in
markets in tropical areas postharvest handling is very abusive and fruits with
blemishes are normal, with degree of fruit ripeness being a deciding factor.
Export quality standards are applied before and after shipping and
include: blemishes and fruit shape, fi nger length and diameter, cluster size
and arrangement, and carton weight. A minimum fi nger length on a hand is
203 mm for export from Central to South America, with the whole hand being
culled if one fi nger does not meet this standard. When hands are cut into
clusters, the cull fi ngers are carefully cut out. The diameter for 'Cavendish'
fi ngers ranges from 31 to 41 mm. Fingers with obvious blemishes are culled.
Such standards can lead to cull rates of up to one-third, with culled fruit being
sold locally, processed or dumped.
Banana fruits are very susceptible to both abrasion and impact injury.
The major marketing problem of export bananas is mechanical injury,
which shows itself as black sunken areas on the skin after ripening. The
thin plastic liner in export cartons minimizes chafi ng damage to fi ngers that
rub against the side of the carton during handling. Latex allowed to dry on
