PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF GREEN BANANA (MUSA-PARADISIACA)FRUIT

The physical and mechanical properties of two varieties of green banan a fruit, namely, Dwarf Scavendish and Nendran, were determined The ave rage pulp and peel moisture content were 264.17% (db) and 666.28% (db) , respectively for Dwarf Scavendish and 153.39% (db) and 516.41% (db), respectively for Nendran. At these average moisture contents, the ave rage pulp to peel ratios were 1.39 and 2.32, and peel thickness were 3 .65 mm and 2.95 mm respectively. The maximum diameter of fruit without peel was 23.34 mm and 37.08 mm, and average pulp specific gravity was 0.993 and 1.110, respectively for the two varieties. The maximum effe ctive length and width of the banana pulp resting at its most stable p osition was observed to be 137.0 mm and 66.5 mm respectively for Dwarf Scavendish and 194.5 mm and 50.0 mm, respectively for Nendran. The ma ximum load required to cut a cross-sectional slice of pulp was 22.4 N and 28.2 N for the two varieties respectively. Maximum energy of 686.8 1 J/m(2) for Dwarf Scavendish and 724.46 J/m(2) for Nendran was requir ed to cut a slice of the fruit. The banana kept in a convex position r equired the most energy to cut, whereas the plain position was observe d to be the best position vis-a-vis the energy requirement and consume r preference of chip shape.