Evaluation of the quality attributes of fruits and their chips of different banana genotypes

Introduction

Banana is a tropical fruit belonging to the genus Musa under the family Musaceae. Banana is a popular and nutritious fruit with a pleasant flavor. They are high energy fruit rich in carbohydrates and also good source of potassium, iron, phosphorous, vitamin C and B6. It is categorized as dessert, plantain and cooking type. The cooking banana or ripe banana as a fruit, is also used to produce beer and wine (Rishirumuhirwa, 2010) [1] . Varieties cooking type is one of the most important food crops cultivated and plays a major role in ensuring food security and rising incomes (Uazire et al., 2008) [2] . It is a good source of energy with carbohydrates accounting for 22-32% of the fruit weight and rich in vitamins A, B 6 , and C as well as minerals like potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and folate (Chandler, 1995; Honfo et al., 2007) [3,4] . Faulty handling practices coupled with underdeveloped marketing systems results in postharvest losses to the extent of about 30%, leaving a little quality surpluses for export and processing (Anonymous, 2002) [5] . An advantageous way of processing bananas is preparation of chips. Chips processed from plantains (banana slices deep-fried in coconut oil) are popular in India and abroad as these serve as intermittent snacks between meals and can be preserved long and the value addition also fetches better revenue to the processors. The present work was undertaken to evaluate the performance of banana genotypes for quality attributes of fruits and their chips under Odisha conditions.

Materials and Methods

The present experiment was conducted at AICRP on Fruits (Banana) located in Horticultural Research Station, OUAT, Bhubaneswar during 2024-25. For the study, seven banana genotypes were cultivated viz., Popoulu, Nendran, Manjeri Nendran, Budubale, Kaveri Kanchan, Patkapura and Bantala. These genotypes were maintained at a spacing of 2.2 × 2.2 m in randomized block design with four replications. Bunches were harvested and fruit samples were brought to the laboratory immediately for further analysis. The data on quality attributes of fruits and their chips were recorded and statistically analysed.

Physicochemical characteristics of fruits

The peel and pulp weights (g) were determined by separating the peel and the pulp by hand peeling and weighing the peel and pulp separately. Pulp-to-peel ratio was obtained by dividing the pulp weight by the peel weight. The total soluble solid (TSS) was estimated using a digital refractometer and expressed in °Brix. TTA was estimated by titrating 0.01M NaOH against 10ml of filtered juice using phenolphthalein indicator and expressed in percentage. The ratio of TSS to TTA was determined by dividing TSS value by TTA value. Moisture (%) was determined using oven drying method. Fruit quality characters like total sugar content, reducing sugar and non-reducing were estimated after harvest of fruits on ripening. Shelf life (yellow) was taken at ambient room temperature from ripening to decay.

Chips preparation

Hands were separated from the bunch and representative fruit samples were drawn from the second and third hand from the base. Fully matured fruits were chosen and washed with clean water. After peeling the outer skin to remove the latex, the fruits were cut into slices. Then slices were weighed and fried in refined sunflower oil. When these slices turned to light yellow in colour these were taken out and served hot.

Recovery of chips for 100 g of pulp

Initial weight of green fruit with peeling (pulp 100 g) and weight of fried chips of same were recorded for individual genotypes.

Then chips recovery percentage was calculated by weight difference as Chips recovery (%) = Weight of fried chips / Initial weight of the fruit (100 g pulp) x 100

Sensory evaluation

Sensory evaluations of the freshly prepared chips were done by 20 taste testing panel. Coded samples of different genotypes with a score sheet were presented to each panellist and requested to evaluate chips for appearance, colour, crispiness, taste, flavour and overall acceptability using hedonic scoring scale of 1 to 9 (Molla et al., 2009) [6] .

Results and Discussion

Quality parameters of fruit

In the present investigation, the quality parameter studied include pulp weight, peel weight, pulp to peel ratio, TSS, acidity, TSS to acid ratio, moisture content, shelf life, reducing, non-reducing and total sugar. The values for pulp weight ranged between 54.14 g to 242.76 g and peel weight 18.60 g to 49.35 g among the different genotypes. Pulp to peel ratio ranged from 3.00 in Bhoodibale to 9.75 in Popoulu (Table 1). Higher pulp weight (242.76 g) and higher pulp to peel ratio (9.75) are desirable attributes for processing, which were observed in Popoulu. Peel weight was lower in the genotypes Bhoodibale (18.60 g) and Popoulu (25.20 g). Higher pulp to peel ratio (9.75) was observed in Popoulu indicating the pulp recovery would be high and is highly suited for preparation of chips. This is in line with the studies of Ravi and Mustaffa (2013) [10] , Kuchi et al. (2017) [8] , Jena et al. (2020) [9] and Manju et al. (2022) [7] . [8] . The genotype Manjeri Nendran recorded maximum reducing and total sugar of 18.55% and 20.80% respectively, whereas, minimum reducing 9.29% and total sugar 13.80% were observed in Popoulu (Table 3). And the genotype Patkapura (1.82%) recorded minimum non-reducing sugars. [13] found that fresh bananas with higher water content had less crispness. A range of 3.27 to 8.27 days with respect to shelf life was recorded (Table 1). Popoulu (8.27 days) and Nendran (7.58 days) had better shelf life as compared to others. Similar variations were also found by Sarkar et al. (2005) [11] , Uma et al. (2006) [12] , Jena et al.

(2020) [9] and Manju et al. (2022) [7] .

Quality parameters of chips

Recovery of chips for 100 g of pulp ranges from 28.56 to 41.69 per cent (Table 4). The cultivar 'Popoulu' recorded significantly higher chips recovery (41.95%). Popoulu produces large fruits yielded less wastage. The higher finger weight, finger girth resulted in higher pulp recovery and thus recorded the maximum chips recovery. Varietal variation in chips recovery was reported in the earlier studies by Belayneh et al. (2014) [14] and K.T. Naveena Kumara et al. (2020) [15] . 5). [13] found that the moisture content after frying had a strong negative link with the sensory score and a strong positive correlation with the chips breaking force. Among the seven genotypes evaluated, the chips prepared from cv. Popoulu scored better than all the other cultivars for all sensory parameters including overall acceptability, followed by Manjeri Nendran and Nendran for most of the sensory parameters. Several researchers have previously reported similar differences in the sensory evaluation scores of banana chips like Molla et al.

(2009) [6] , Belayneh et al. (2014) [14] , Kuchi et al. (2017) [8] , K.T. Naveena Kumara et al. (2020) [15] , VM Rajenimbalkar et al.

(2021) [16] and Asmare Dagnew et al. (2021) [17] .

Conclusion

The present experiment generated useful information for selecting genotype that is suitable for chips industry. The results indicated that the higher bunch yield (17.05 kg/plant) and fruit weight (272.00 g), which contributed to higher recovery of chips (41.95%) with higher sensory scores such as chips appearance, attractive colour, shape, size, crispness, taste, flavour with overall acceptability and as well as short crop duration (310.22 days), makes Popoulu as the best suitable option over Nendran for processing into chips and thus maximizing the growers returns. Popoulu being king of fruit for making chips due to its larger chips size and attractive orange yellow colour of chips. There is an immense potential for the cultivation and subsequently being used for chips making in industries and thereby can enhance the financial potential of the farmers of Odisha. So Popoulu followed by Manjeri Nendran, Nendran and Kaveri Kanchan can be grown by the farmers of Odisha in large scale which are used in chips making industries.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors are thankful to ICAR-AICRP on Fruits (Banana) and Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology for providing the facilities and supporting the work.

References

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