Quality and Shelf Life of Mango and Banana As Influenced By Chitin Nanofiber

Abstract

Mango and banana are two popular fruits widely cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical countries in the world. These fruits are perishable with limited shelf life, resulting in a considerable amount of postharvest loss every year. To minimize these problems, harvested green mature fruits (mango and banana) were treated with different concentrations of chitin nanofiber (CNF) (0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5%) and stored under ambient conditions at the Horticulture Laboratory, Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna. Non-treated fruits were considered as control. Two separate experiments were conducted for these fruits following a factorial Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications of the treatments, having 10 fruits in each replication, to investigate the postharvest performance of the fruits during storage. The effectiveness of the coating in extending shelf life of fruits was assessed by evaluating cumulative weight loss (%), changes in color (subjective and objective), fruit firmness, TA (%), TSS (% BRIX), vitamin C (mg/100 g), disease incidence (number), disease severity (%), and shelf life (days). The study was conducted with a view that 0.3% CNF coating reduced the loss of cumulative weight (0.96 part) and firmness (0.73 part) of banana, while 0.5% CNF was effective in reducing total weight loss (0.83 part) and TSS (0.64 part) retention of mango. Lower disease incidence was recorded in 0.3% CNF-treated mango (0.93 part); however, disease severity was remarkably reduced by CNF 0.1% (1.30 times) compared to the uncoated control. CNF 0.1% also retained TSS of banana compared to other treatments. This investigation showed that 0.1% CNF prolonged the shelf life of banana, while CNF 0.3% enhanced the extension of shelf life and performed better in maintaining the physicochemical properties of mango under ambient conditions.