Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

Asie - Pacifique / Asia - Pacific : Chen Weixin et al.
605
Harvesting and maturity indices
Deciding the degree of fullness of fingers for harvest is done according to the time for
storage and transportation. In the case of 5 days of transportation and with low
temperature facilities, 80-85 of fullness of fingers would be suitable, while in the case of
longer transportation and without low temperature facilities, 75 of fullness is better.
Care must be taken to prevent mechanical injury in the processes of harvesting,
postharvest treatments and in the course of transportation.
Postharvest treatments
After dehanding, the fruits are washed in chlorinated water, treated by dipping in a
fungicidal solution such as TBZ (500-1000ppm), Sportak (250-500ppm), or Rovral
(500ppm) for one to two minutes and then dried by fan. An ethylene absorbent was
applied with MA storage. The bananas, together with 50g-ethylene absorbent containing
mainly KMnO 4 as an oxidizing agent, are put in a 0.03-0,04 mm-gauge polyethylene bag,
sealed and packed in fibreboard cartons.
Storage and transport at ambient temperature
China is a developing country and lacks enough refrigerated facilities for storage and
transport of bananas. When treated as just mentioned above, bananas can be stored at
ambient temperature (28 to 32 °C) for 25 to 40 days in summer, and for 60 to 90 days
( 1 0 °C to 15 °C) in winter. In the case of transportation at ambient temperature in
s u m m e r, it is very important to have a good circulation of air so as to lower the
Figure 3. Bananas were transported at normal atmosphere temperature from South China to
North China.