EVALUATION OF CHANGES IN BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF BANANA (MUSA SPP.) STORED IN POLYPROPYLENE PACKAGINGS

This studywascarried out to evaluate the effect of polypropylene packaging on biochemicalparameters of plantain. Twovarieties of banana (French 2 and Corne 1) harvested at 70 and 75 daysafter floral apparition have been stored at 25?C in 0.235 and 0.303 mm thick polypropylene (PP) packaged. Biochemicalcharacteristicssuch as pH, titratable acidity, ripening stage, moisture content, ash, reducing sugars and starch content were determined. The results showed that Polypropylene packaging stabilized the biochemical characteristics of plantain. The result about French 2 indicated stability of parameters between the 12th and 14th day of storage in the bags of 0.235 mm thickness and 18th and 20th day of storage in the bags of 0.303 mm thickness. However, for Corne 1 variety, the parameters were stable between 10th and 12th days of storage and 16th and 18th days respectively in packages of thickness 0.235and 0.303mm. Significant differences were not observed for the same treatment at maturity levels of 70th and 75th days. The stability time of the physicochemical characteristics of French 2 variety is significantly longer.