Evaluation of Smoke Treatments for the Ripening of Banana (Musa spp.) at Metema District, Northwestern Ethiopia

Azeze Wubie Kassa1*, Hayat Yasin Mohamed1, Tegegne Ashagrie Endalew1

Evaluation of Smoke Treatments for the Ripening of Banana (Musa spp.) at Metema District, Northwestern Ethiopia

Azeze Wubie Kassa1*, Hayat Yasin Mohamed1, Tegegne Ashagrie Endalew1

1 Gondar Agricultural Research Center, P.O. Box 1337 Gondar- Ethiopia

The experiment was conducted at Metema District, Northwestern Ethiopia to evaluate and select suitable banana ripening techniques in the 2019 cool and 2020 hot seasons. The treatments consisted of three kerosene smoking durations and two none kerosene smoke treatments such as low-density white polyethylene sheet and banana leaf were arranged in CRD with three replications. Properly matured fruits were treated with 12hrs, 18hrs, and 24hrs kerosene smoke to induce ethylene production in the fruits and commence ripening inside an air-tight and dark room. Immediately after the treatment application, fruits were subjected to an ambient temperature for ventilation. Similar properly matured fruits were wrapped with low-density white polyethylene sheet and banana leaf until ripening. The result revealed that fruits treated with kerosene burn for 12hrs gave uniform color development, desirable firmness and acceptable quality, and better shelf life within 5 and 4 days under cool and hot season conditions, respectively. Subsequently, uniform color development was attended within short days when fruits were treated with kerosene burn for 18 and 24hr smoking durations, however, the majority of the fingers were detached from the hands of the banana bunch. On the other hand, fruits treated with polyethylene sheet and banana leaf did not indicate any color change or firmness loss for7 day’s duration. Therefore, it is concluded that kerosene smoke for 12hrs under cool and hot season conditions was found optimum for ripe bananas at Metema and similar environmental conditions.

Keywords: Banana ripening, Color change, Ethylene gas, and Kerosene smoke

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