Ripening of bananas using Bowdichia virgilioides Kunth leaves
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Agricultural Science, Plant Science
- Keywords
- agroecological production of banana, agroecology, natural ripening inducer, post-harvest of banana., fruticulture
- Copyright
- © 2018 Nascimento et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2018. Ripening of bananas using Bowdichia virgilioides Kunth leaves. PeerJ Preprints 6:e26609v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.26609v1
Abstract
Introduction: Bananas are usually matured with carbide, a dangerous substance that can cause food poisoning. The objective was to test the empirical ripening banana method using Bowdichia virgilioides leaves compared to carbide. Material and Methods: Ripening tests were carried out using 'Pacovan' banana fruits with Bowdichia virgilioides leaves and carbide following the empirical method used by Borborema farmers, Paraíba, Brazil. Results: Bowdichia virgilioides leaves induced increased respiration and vitamin C production and reduced acidity, chlorophyll and pH in banana fruits. Leaves of B. virgilioides induce maturation of 'Pacovan' banana. Discussion: Exposure of the fruits to the ethylene produced by B. virgilioides leaves induced increased respiration and climacteric, resulting in banana ripening with better results than with carbide.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.