Abstract:
Postharvest losses in plantain production negatively impact the profitability of smallholder farmers. The work studied the effect of 1-MCP gas (0, 15, 30, and 60 μl/l) on green mature plantains (Apentu) stored for 30 days in wooden cabinet and clay-pot in-pot evaporative cooler on weight loss, peel colour, firmness, shrinkage, and sensory characteristics. Two-factor experiment (2×4×3) in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used. The mean temperature and relative humidity of the wooden cabinet (WC) and pot-in-pot evaporative cooler (EC) were 28.91±0.69℃ & 74.16±8.64 % and 25.41±0.36℃ & 94.20±1.23 % respectively. Plantains treated with 15 μl/l 1-MCP and stored in pot-in-pot evaporative cooler recorded the lowest percentage shrinkage and weight loss (P<0.05) of 3.64±0.04% and 6.18±0.06% respectively. 1-MCP (15 μl/l) treated plantain and stored in pot-in-pot evaporative cooler maintained fruit firmness and peel colour greenness (a*) from 50.51 to 33.39 N and -19.94 to 4.69 respectively over the 30 days storage. Carbohydrate, potassium and vitamin C (P<0.05) for 15 μl/l 1-MCP treated plantain stored in pot-in-pot evaporative cooler was retained from 90.13 % to 91.68 %, 3965 to 4921 μg/g, and 1.10 to 21.95 mg/100g respectively over the 30 days of storage compared to the control. The sensory evaluation showed panellists had higher preference for the 15 μl/l 1-MCP treated plantain stored in pot-in-pot evaporative cooler for 15 days, colour (8.4), texture (8.4), odour (8.6), appearance (8.8), and overall acceptability (8.6) compared to the control (untreated plantain) stored in wooden cabinet for 15 days with, colour (3.8), texture (3.4), odour (4.2), appearance (3.4), and overall acceptability (4.0). The results show that 1-MCP (15 μl/l) treated plantain stored in pot-in-pot evaporative cooler could improve storage life and increase farmers profitability.
