Banana Post Harvest Practices: Current Status and Future Prospects - A Review

Abstract

Banana is one of the most appreciated fruit all over the world because of its multipurpose use as food. Lack of suitable post harvest management practices may lead to a huge economic loss for the banana producing regions. Different postharvest management practices are in use to enhance its shelf life by delaying the ripening, reducing respiration rate, and controlling the disease causing organisms, during transport and storage. An integrated approach can ensure product safety and quality that reaches the consumer, residing far away from the production area. In this article different pre-storage treatments viz. pre-cooling, chemical and biological treatment for disinfection, modified atmospheric packaging, chemical treatment, irradiation, and coating for enhancement of shelf life is discussed in brief.