Artificial Ripening of Banana - An Overview

 

Mouli Chandar. M and Anton Smith. A*

Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Annamalai University,

Annamalai Nagar 608002

 

ABSTRACT:

Ripening of banana fruits was carried out by different methodologies like naturally, stressed by fumes, placing in hot condition, using calcium carbide, calcium chloride, potash, ethylene, ethereal, ethylene glycol, methyl jasmonate, etc. The objective of the study is aimed to review on artificial ripening of banana and its physicochemical changes, benefits and harmful effect caused by ripening methods. Artificial ripening of banana is experimented by fumigation and its results on morphological and physiological changes like colour, sweetness, firmness, acceptability have been observed. Various harmful effects or toxicity which is caused by artificial ripening agents are also studied. This purpose of this article is to showcase the most toxic to least or nil toxic agents and to portray the best acceptable methods of artificial ripening of banana. It was found evidence that natural method of artificial ripening gives beneficial effects without toxicity whereas stress induced or chemically induced artificial ripening leads to changes in active components that may lead to physiological malfunctioning of human beings. It was found that the order of beneficial effect is declined by natural > ethylene > ethrel with sodium hydroxide > methyl jasmonate > ethephon > calcium chloride > ethylene glycol > calcium carbide.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

A banana is an edible climacteric fruit produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. The fruit is inconsistent in size, colour, and firmness but is generally elongated and bowed, with flexible flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be red, yellow, green, brown, or purple while ripe. Banana has to ripen completely so that it has its fullest taste and nutrients. Post ripened harvesting of banana leads to lesser shelf life and it is not suitable for long transportation hence bananas are harvested when they are ¾ matured. These harvested pre-ripened bananas are transported and made to ripe at the place of retail markets using artificial ripening agents so that they attain uniform ripening and more appealing physical and sensory character. The major problem that plays here is the use of banned chemicals and harmful methods for artificial ripening thus causing severe health hazards.

 

Most of the ripening agents are poisonous and their utilization can cause severe health problems, such as heart disease, lung failure, skin disease and kidney failure^1,2. Artificial ripening may accelerate the ripening process but it affects the nutritional quality sensory and safety of fruits³. The common nutrient contents and vitamin C content are found high in naturally ripened banana when compared to the artificial ripened one but the shelf life is straight opposite in nature⁴.

 

Based on the characteristics of artificial ripened used in artificial ripening can be classified as

 

Natural artificial ripening:

The ripening process is carried out by means of natural ripening agents and methods (without the aid of chemical substance). Example: Ripening by fumes, increasing the ripening rate by placing in a closed container, placing fruits like apple, avocado etc along with unripe bananas promotes ripening to a greater extent.

 

Synthetic artificial ripening:

Various chemical compounds are used in greater extent to induce and promote the ripening. The ripening method usually involves chemicals either in the form of solid (calcium carbide), liquid (ethrel) and gaseous (ethylene) in nature.

 

Natural methods:

The simple method practised in the household to trigger ripening is to keep the unripe fruit inside an air tight drum containing rice or wheat. The fruits stored in such a way ripen quickly because of the accumulation of ethylene gas and selfheating nature of grains. Rice and wheat grains differ in their seed dormancy which affects the seed respiration rate. Respiration of rice or wheat grains produces carbon dioxide and this, in turn, induces ethylene biosynthesis in a number of fruits. Since respiration is more in rice than wheat grains unripe fruits kept in rice ripen faster than those kept in wheat grains. Unripe fruits spread as layers over paddy husk or wheat straw for a week to ripen is another alternative.

 

In an experiment where packaging materials such as plastic bag, poly sheet, wooden box, open air as control and plant ethylene sources such as avocado, mango, tomato were used and considered as two factors. One packaging material contains one plant ethylene resource at a time where by, each packaging material gets the equal weight of the three ethylene sources in separately. Hence there were 12 treatments with three replications accounting for 36 experimental units. Samples of unripe bananas were placed in each unit. The results showed that banana placed with avocado ripened first in 6.4 days followed by tomato in 6.5 days and mango in 7.1 days. In relation with containers bananas placed in wooden box ripened first and bananas placed in poly sheet took the longest duration for ripening. Based on this experiment avocado in combination with the wooden box can be used to get the shortest ripening period without any undesirable effect on the quality of the fruit⁵.

 

Placing bananas with other fruits:

Apple:

The banana ripening which is induced by using apple, provide ripened bananas with higher nutritional and organoleptic qualities⁶.

 

Avocado, Mango and Tomato:

When these three are individually used as a source of ethylene ripening with avocado fruits showed the shortest ripening period without any adverse effect on quality, followed by mango and tomato⁶.

 

Temperature:

Increase in storage temperature between 14°C and 30°C promotes the rate of ripening and softening of fruits⁷ while higher temperature also leads to damage in ripening⁸. At lower temperature ripening permanently stalls, banana turns grey as cell wall break downs. The skin of banana quickly blackens at 4°C although the fruit inside remains unaffected. At 13°C bananas are stopped producing their natural ripening agent ethylene and in this way they can be transported to very long distance for 3-4 week duration and on arrival they are held at 17°C, in few days bananas will ripen and will be ready for sale in the market⁹.

 

Chemical methods:

Calcium carbide (CaC₂):

Calcium carbide is a highly hazardous chemical for living organisms, hence it is banned. Since it is low in cost, it is abundantly used in the artificial ripening process. Calcium carbide when it comes in contact with moisture it produces acetylene which has similar effects as ethylene but calcium carbide has traces of arsenic and phosphorous which are highly toxic and carcinogen that makes this chemical unfit to use for ripening^1,10-13.

 

Cac₂ + H₂O à CaCO₂ + C2H₂

 

It has various short and long term health effects. Contact causes irritation or burns in skin or eye causing permanent eye damage. It also causes irritation in mouth nose and throat causing coughs and wheezing. Higher exposure may cause pulmonary edema. Because of its alkaline nature, calcium carbide causes stomach disorder by irritating the mucosal tissues of the abdomen¹². It reduces the oxygen supply to the brain and affects the nervous system¹⁴. It is more vulnerable to pregnant women as the chemical residue cause miscarriage. Calcium carbide can induce ripening within 24 h and it is the cheap and most used technique in developing countries^10,11. The available calcium carbide in the market is grey or brown in colour and contains 80-85% calcium carbide¹⁵.

 

The qualitative test for the fruits ripened by using calcium carbide have uniformly coloured texture but not uniformly coloured in naturally ripped fruit, similarly aroma is mildly good by carbide whereas good by naturally, taste is in core sour and mildly pleasant in artificial, but sweet and pleasant by natural method. The shelf life is shorter in artificial method whereas longer in natural method. The firmness is fair in both the ripened methods¹⁶.

 

Ethylene (C₂H₄):

Safe and worldwide accepted way of inducing ripening is the usage of ethylene, a natural plant hormone under controlled concentration, temperature and relative humidity condition¹⁷. The concentration of ethylene used for ripening is 100-150ppm and its exposure time is 24 h. During ripening the temperature is maintained at 15-18°C and the storage temperature is 13-14°C. The relative humidity is maintained at 90-95%. The Food Safety and Standards Regulation, 2011 has permitted the use of ethylene gas at a concentration is up to 100ppm. This is non-toxic for human consumption but it is expensive¹¹.

 

Methyl jasmonate (C₁₃H₂₀O₃):

Jasmonic acid and methyl jasmonate greatly promote the ripening process in non-climacteric fruits. Studies have shown that the addition of methyl jasmonate increases the gene expressions that are much involved in the ripening process. This method is also stated as non-toxic and highly expensive¹¹.

 

Ethephon (C₂H₆CLO₃P):

Ethephon (ethrel) in the presence of moisture and neutral pH is decomposed into ethylene gas, biphosphate ion and chloride ions¹³. These chemicals have adverse effects on human health. It gives more acceptable colour and greater shelf life than fruits ripened with calcium carbide¹¹. It produces toxicity including salivation, lacrimation, urination and defecation¹⁴. Ethephon treated bananas have more nutritious factors when compared with calcium carbide treated bananas¹⁸. 500ppm of ethrel solution is optimum for inducing uniform ripening of 75-80% mature bananas in 6 days at 20±1ºC. At least this can be used as a replacement for calcium carbide since it is less toxic¹⁹.

 

Ethrel with Sodium hydroxide:

Another simple and harmless technique is 10ml of ethrel and 2g of sodium hydroxide pellets are mixed in five litres of water taken in wide mouth vessel. This vessel is placed in a ripening chamber near the fruits and the room is sealed air tight. Ripening of fruits takes place in about 12 to 24 h.

 

Ethylene glycol (C₂H₅O₂):

Chemically synthesised ethylene glycol is also used in the artificial ripening process.The main impurities are diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, methanol and aldehydic oxidation products. It also possess a harmful effect and may cause kidney failure^20,21.

 

Calcium chloride (CaCl₂):

Calcium chloride socked and ripened bananas show 60% decreased vitamin C²². Hence this process is not recommended.

 

Table 1: Impurities present in ripening agents and possible health hazards^{6,10-13,20-22,25}.

S No	Ripening agent	Impurities	Health hazards
1	Calcium carbide (CaC2)	Arsenic and Phosphorus	Hypoxia, stomach disorder, Skin damage
2	Ethephon (C2H6CLO3P)	Biphosphate ion and chloride ions	No hazard under limited concentration (1ppm-50ppm). At high concentration – fatal systematic poisoning.
3	Ethylene glycol (C2H5O2)	Diethylene glycol and triethylene glycol	Kidney failure.
4	Ethylene(C2H4), Methyl jasmonate (C13H20O3)	They are very less or almost nil toxic for human consumption.	No significant health hazards reported. They are expensive.
5	Kerosene	Sulphur	Pulmonary problems.
6	Calcium chloride (CaCl2)	Soaked ripened bananas show a tremendous decrease in vitamin c content.	This process is not recommended since it has low nutrients when ripened and hence no use in consumption.
7	Ethrel with sodium hydroxide(NaOH)	It is not kept in direct contact with the fruits.	Almost non-toxic but expensive.
8	Placed with Apple, Avocado, Mango, Tomato	Naturally induced ripening, potentially nil impurities.	No toxicity. The order of ripening duration is as Avocado < Apple < Mango < Tomato.

 

Smoke treatment:

Smokes are created using straw, leaves and cow dung in a closed chamber with heaps of banana placed inside. The duration is about 18-24 h in summer and 48 h in winter. Later it is placed for development of colour in a well ventilated room. In this method, ripening takes place in 3 days. Fruits ripened by this method are less preferred because of cuts, bruises, microbial infection and poor appearance²³. The same thing may also be carried out in the pots as small scale. Fruits which are exposed to 30 h of heat produced by burning dry straw are ripened in 3.4 to 3.8 days and had a shelf life of about 8 days while untreated required 10 days to ripe fully and had a shelf life of about 11 days²⁴.

 

When we compare the ripening process in smoke using straw method the gradual difference was observed in three days with the control one. In case of first day the texture, firmness and the taste of the control will be green, very hard and sour whereas treated will be green with yellow spots, hard and sour in core and the second day control will be yellowish green, hard and sour and the treated will be yellowish green, soft and sweet and the third day will be yellow, mild soft and sweet but sour in core and the treated will be yellow, completely soft and sweetish taste respectively.

 

Smoke generated by burning kerosene stove inside air tight chamber is also used for inducing ripening but this treatment is toxic as the smoke generated by kerosene contains carbon monoxide and thus lays harmful. It also contains impurities like sulphur which cause pulmonary injuries and may be fatal²⁵.

 

From the study it revealed that bananas that are fumed and opened after three days are very soft and sweet to eat when compared to a standard which is kept normally at room atmosphere. Since here the fumes are induced by straw and dried leaves there is no traces of hazardous chemical compounds and it is completely safe. This method is completely non-toxic and can be opted as an alternate instead of using hazardous artificial ripening agents. From the reviewed papers it is evident that natural methods of ripening are completely non-toxic. Ethylene, methyl jasmonate and the combination of ethrel and sodium hydroxide are chemicals which have no harm when used in artificial ripening because it does not come in direct contact with the fruits. Other chemicals such as ethephon, calcium chloride, ethylene glycol and most importantly calcium carbide do have high dangerous levels of toxicity. In natural methods avocado placed unripe banans ripen at the earliest. Likewise, unripe banana stored in the wooden box ripens quickly when compared to storage materials like a poly sheet or poly bag. Unripe bananas which are placed in rice ripen faster than the ones which are placed in wheat grains.

 

PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHANGES:

When considering the physicochemical characters there is a decrease in weight and dry matter content and increase in specific gravity with increase in storage time. The total soluble solids increases and titrable acidity generally decreases when being treated with chemicals for ripening. Highest amount of vitamin C content was found with naturally ripened banana. The physiological and bio chemical changes that occur during ripening of banana with or without the aid of artificial ripening agents that are studied from various research papers are tabulated and summarized below in Table 2. It is always evident that the bananas which ripen naturally has the best biochemical composition and nutrients that has highest beneficial to humans when consumed rather than artificially ripened bananas.

 

 

Table 2: Summarized content of fruit quality changes during ripening

Treatment/ Conditions/ Stage	Report
Increasing storage period of fruits	Increase in specific gravity26
Poor post harvest handling and attack by microorganisms	Spoilage of fruits27
Poor postharvest handling	Spoilage of fruits occurs during dry and wet seasons28
High respiration rate and water loss content	Loss of dry matter content29
High respiration rate	Loss of fruit dry matter and weight30
During normal ripening process with null treatment	Increase in Total Soluble Solids (TSS)31
Treatment of ethephon with 250,500,750 and 1000 ppm	Increase in Total Soluble Solid (TSS) with 1000 ppm32
Treatment with ethrel	Increase in TSS and sugars in fruits33
Treatment of ether with conc of 500,750,1000 and 1500 ppm	Attains maximum TSS with 1000 ppm of ether34
Treatment with 100 ppm ethylene gas followed by 1500 ppm ethephon	Attains maximum average TSS35
Treatment with calcium carbide	Resulted in decreased amount of TSS in fruits36
Ethrel treatment, with increase in ripening period	Increase in TSS and sugars33
Treatment with increased concentration of ethephon	Attains maximum titratable acidity35
Treatment of ether with concentration of 500,750,1000 and 1500 ppm	Maximum Decrease in Total Acidity34
Increased storage period with null treatments	Decreased Titratable Acidity37
Treatment with paddy straw	Increased starch content38
With Increased storage period of fruits	Increased sugar content39
Treatment of ether (concentration of 500,750,100,1500ppm)	Increased total reducing and non reducing sugars in fruits34
With high storage temperature and increased storage period	Gradual decrease in ascorbic acid content40,41
At ripening stage At fully ripened stage At over over-ripe stage	Increased ascorbic acid42 Attains maximum amount42 Decrease in ascorbic acid42
Untreated fruit sample	Highest vitamin C content18
During storage stage, irrespective of treatments	Decline in ascorbic acid34
Treatment of ethrel with concentration of 500,750 and 1000 ppm	Increase in ascorbic acid after storage and declined thereafter43
Treatment with ethylene gas 100 ppm	Attains highest ascorbic acid content35
With increasing heating temperature	Increased total phenolic content44
During ripening stage	Significant accumulation of total soluble phenols45
When fruits start to ripen	Increase in respiration rate46
With high storage temperature,30 C	Loss of weight in fruits during ripening process47
Ethephon with concentration of 500,1000 and 1500 ppm	High physiological loss in weight at high concentration35
Ethylene application on fruits	Increased weight loss during ripening process48
Treatment with increased concentration of ethrel (1500 ppm)	Increased physiological loss of weight in fruits34
Treatment with Ethrel solution for 5 mins	Physiological weight loss on fruits49

 

 

CONCLUSION:

It is evident and already proved by many researchers that usage of chemical agents such as calcium carbide, ethephon, ethylene glycol, calcium chloride and inducing ripening by fumes from kerosene is highly hazardous and may be fatal if consumed. It is always best to use naturally induced methods of artificial ripening by placing bananas with avocado, apple etc or by using fumes from dried leaves or straws. In the case of using chemical agent’s ethylene, methyl jasmonate and ethrel with sodium hydroxide combination can be used because of non-toxic. But practically vendors are not using this because it is too expensive. Alternatively, ethephon at a concentration of 1ppm-50ppm can be used; it is non-hazardous if only maintained at this particular concentration. When considering the physicochemical characters there is a decrease in weight and dry matter content and increase in specific gravity with increase in storage time. The total soluble solids increases and titrable acidity generally decreases when being treated with chemicals for ripening. Highest amount of vitamin C content was found with naturally ripened banana. Hence it is concluded that the order of beneficiary of faster ripening in relation to packing materials is wooden box> poly bags> poly sheet and in relation to chemicals used the order is ethylene> ethrel with                           sodium hydroxide>methyl jasmonate> ethephon> calcium chloride> ethylene glycol> calcium carbide. It is always best to artificially ripe bananas by the naturally induced method or using chemical methods that are non-toxic if not it can be left as such to ripen without using ripeners.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

The authors declare that we do not have any conflict of interest with the data contained in the paper.

 

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Received on 25.05.2019           Modified on 17.06.2019

Accepted on 03.07.2019         © RJPT All right reserved