Abstract:
Chilling injury is physiology damage occur in many tropical fruits such as banana.
Chilling injury occur when the banana is stored below its optimum temperature for a
prolong time. The optimum temperature for banana is 12-14°C and storage below
this temperature can cause blackening of the peel (symptom of chilling injury). This
study is done to determine the effect of chilling injury on the peel of banana and
compare the peel structure of three different varieties using microscopic methods.Three varieties of dessert banana (Cavendish, Gros Berangan and Monkey banana)
were used and compared. For each variety of bananas, it stored in two temperature
condition i.e room temperature (16-20°C) and cold temperature (10°C). To observe
the result, two microscopic methods were used i.e Scanning Electron Microscope
(SEM) and histology method. The results were compared for the two different storage
conditions by studying the tissue condition of the samples. From the result,
temperature has major effect on the peel of banana. The peel tissue was damaged and
collapsed. This is because cool temperature makes the tissue harden and fragile when
cut. Monkey banana has the thinnest peel compare to the other two varieties, shows
that it is the most affected by temperature.