COLOR CHANGES IN BANANAS AND PLANTAINS DURING STORAGE

Two cultivars, namely Cavendish bananas (Musa AAA Group) and plantains (Musa AAB Group) were used to study the changes in their peel color d uring storage at various temperatures. Gas-treated and nontreated frui ts, and the L a* b* system were used. The temperature effect on the c olor parameters was mainly through the interaction with the gas treatm ent, variety and storage time; however, redness (a) for gas-treated b ananas was expressed as a = -20.1 + 0.14 TD, (T=temperature, D = day) . Similarly, a =-27.5 + 55 (TD)(1/2)-0.2 T D, predicted the degreenin g process in gassed plantains. The gas-treatment, storage time and var iety all had a significant effect (p<0.01) on the La*b* parameters. P lantains lost the greenness during storage faster than bananas.