Postharvest Handling of Tropical Fruits:Practices and Processes

Banana and papaya are important fruit crops grown in the tropics. Despite their importance, higher ambient temperature and poor postharvest handling practices makes their shelf life limited. Postharvest loss of banana and papaya in developing countries varies from 20-80% and 40-100%, respectively, depending on the cultivar and environmental conditions. To extend the shelf life and thus ensure their availability through-out the year, a study was conducted on banana and papaya. The treatments included storage in different packaging materials such as micro perforated polypropylene bags (MPB), Micro perforated polypropylene bags with ethylene absorbent (MPB+K), macro perforated polypropylene bags coated with anti-mist coating (PP), fruit waxing, gibberellic acid (GA3) and indole butyric acid (IBA) applications. Comparison was made against untreated fruits. This book, therefore, provides study findings of the different methods used to extend the shelf life. The study identified alternative postharvest handling practices in a manner suitable for use in tropical environmental conditions where poor storage and distribution facilities exist