Changes in physico-mechanical properties of banana fruit during ripening treatment

In this paper, some physical and mechanical properties of banana fruits at different level of ripeness were investigated. Relation between various stages of ripeness and these properties were determined and correlation coefficients were calculated. The color of the fruit skin was measured as L*, a* and b* in CIELAB system. The mechanical properties were extracted from plotted force-deformation curve. A significant difference at 5% level was found between the level of ripeness and these properties. Duncan's multiple range test was conducted and results were reported. Results showed that changes in L*, b* and C was similar, also variation of color index (CI) was similar to a*. The firmness, rupture energy and hardness decreased as banana fruit ripened. All measured physico- mechanical properties of banana fruit except deformation had High correlation with stage of ripeness. Result of deformation analysis showed no significant difference at various stages of ripeness. The correlation between deformation and stage of ripeness was obtained as 0.2. (Mahmoud Soltani, Reza Alimardani, Mahmoud Omid. Changes in physico-mechanical properties of banana fruit during ripening treatment. Journal of American Science 2011;7(5):14-19). (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.americanscience.org.