Evolution of Bioactive Compounds during Storage of Poyo Bananas after Treatment with Calcium Chloride

Visually, the obvious characteristic of banana ripening is the progressive change of the epicarp from green to yellow according to several stages whose importance contributes to extend the total duration of the process. The present study was carried out with the aim of prolonging the ripening time of bananas while following the behavior of the physiological parameters related to this process. To achieve this objective, after treatment of bananas with calcium chloride, several parameters were evaluated. These were ripening rate, firmness, water content, soluble solids content and pigment content in the peel. Secondly, the evolution of antioxidant parameters such as: lycopenes and β-carotenes in the pulp; total phenols, flavonoids and ascorbic acid contents in the peel and pulp have been assessed. As a result of these analyses, it appeared that the best shelf life was obtained with bananas treated with tween 80 at 2 and 4% Cl2Ca. The lowest bananas shelf lives were recorded in 6 and 8% Cl2Ca and in the control. Similarly, the low loss of firmness, low accumulation of total soluble solids, low increase in water content in the pulp were found in the 2 and 4% Cl2Ca tween 80 treatments. The change in chlorophyll went in a decreasing direction during storage, but almost similarly in all treatments. The increase in lycopene content was effective during this time in a less rapid manner in the 2 and 4% calcium chloride treatments. Variations in β-carotenes, total phenols, and ascorbic acid were also increased throughout the storage period. However, at the end, it was difficult to correlate their evolution to any concentration of calcium chloride used for banana processing. It is also this lack of influence of calcium chloride as a treatment on the significant decrease of flavonoids in the pulp and not significant in the peel that was observed. Furthermore, the contents of the compounds measured in the peel and the pulp were lower in the pulp. It is thus with the bananas treated with tween 80 to 2 and 4% of calcium chloride that the majority of the parameters were influenced in favour of the preservation of bananas.