PHYSIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL-CHANGES DURING RIPENING OF COSTA-RICAN BANANAS HARVESTED IN DIFFERENT SEASONS

Mature green 'Grande Naine' bananas (Musa AAA) were harvested 13 weeks after flowering in June and Sept, 1993 and Feb, and Mar, 1994 and wer e sent air freight to Raleigh, N.C. Fruit were held under 1) storage ( 36 days at 14 degrees C and 80% to 90% relative humidity) or 2) ripeni ng (8 days storage, followed by ethylene treatment on day 8 and subseq uent storage at 17 degrees C and 80% to 90% relative humidity), Despit e of similar grade and age, length of the preclimacteric phase (green life) was different between fruit harvested at different times of the gear, Fruit harvested in February and March had a longer green life th an those harvested in June and September, Rate of respiration best des cribed changes that occurred during the postharvest life of bananas; h owever, variables such as pulp pH and soluble solids could be commerci ally useful measures, Once gassed with ethylene, ripening rates were s imilar between all four lots of fruit, indicating that seasonal variat ion probably doesn't contribute much to variability seen during ripeni ng, Hand position in the bunch did not have a large influence on varia bility during ripening or storage.