Nondestructive Prediction of Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Banana (Musa paradisiaca L.) Based on Color Change

The objective of the research was to predict the physical and chemical characteristics of banana (Musa paradisiaca L.) non destructively based on discoloration. The first stage of the research was to determine the most preferred physical and chemical characteristics of banana; and the second stage was to analyze the effect of the banana?s maturity (A) and banana?s natural ripening period (B) on the changes of physical and chemical characteristics of banana that was arranged in a factorial completely randomized design. The determined parameters were color analysis (L*, a*, b*), texture, pH, total sugars content, vitamin C, total acids content, the kinetics of color changes and hedonic test. Hedonic test showed that the most preferred banana was the perfect ripe banana with the characteristics of L* 63.23%, a*-1.63, and b* 33.27 on banana?s peel, total sugars content of 9.4 0Brix, pH 5.007, texture (hardness) 35.78 gf, vitamin C content 4.69mg/100g, and total acid content 1.15%. Kinetic changes characteristics on the banana?s peel based on the maturity level of bananas were k (rate of constant) values for L* were 4?10-3, -2?10-4 and -3?10-4 per day, respectively for the bananas harvested at 60, 80 and 100 days after flowering, whereas the k values for b* were -4?10-4, -1?10-3 and 2, 6?10-2 per day, respectively. The natural ripening period for bananas harvested at 60, 80 and 100 days after flowering that could meet the preferred b* values on banana?s peel were 33.17; 9.46 and 7.18 days, respectively.