Study of Banana (Cv. Mas Kirana) Storage in Active Modified Atmosphere Packaging using Potassium Permanganate

Abstract

Cv. Mas Kirana is one of popular banana variety commonly grown in Indonesia and the mainstay of banana industry for both domestic and export trades. Major constraints and problem associated with postharvest handling of fresh banana are short shelf life and lack of postharvest handling. There is a need to find appropriate storage method in order to extend the storage life to mantain the fruit quality for retail packaging for domestic market. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is an ideal preservation technique and is known to have great potential to extending the postharvest life of banana with potassium permanganate (KMnO4) sachets as ethylene absorbent were used in MAP to absorb endogenously produced ethylene. The purpose of this study was to evaluated for fruit quality and shelf life under MAP packaging, with or without an (KMnO4). The data obtained from physico chemical analysis and sensory evaluation were analyzed statically for analysis of variance with Duncan test (p<0.05) was used to detect significant differences for the treatment means. The results indicate that the shelf life of fruits packed under White Stretch Film (WSF) with KMnO4 (active MAP) at 28 °C could be extended up to 10 days compared to 6 days for banana control packed under WSF without KMnO4 (passive MAP), and the shelf life of fruits packed under active MAP at 15 °C could be extended up to 24 days compared to 16 days for passive MAP. Active MAP treatments delayed weight loss, colour, texture, starch content, total soluble solids (TSS), ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and pulp of water content as compared to control banana (passive MAP). Sensory quality (colour, texture, aroma, and taste) of fully ripe fruits of both WSF without KMnO4 and WSF with KMnO4 was very good.