RESPONSE OF BANANAS AND PLANTAINS TO IMPACT FORCES

Banana and plantains were obtained at green firm stage and stored at 2 0C and 90% relative humidity for up to II days. Some of the fruits wer e removed each day from storage and subjected to three impact energy l evels (0.206, 0.514 and 0.828 J) using a specifically designed impacte r. The impacted fruits were incubated at the same storage conditions f or 24 h before assessing the bruise volume. Two models relating the br uise volume, the impact energy and the storage time were developed for both fruits. For bananas, the bruise volume had a linear relationship with the energy absorbed by the fruits, whereas the relationship was nonlinear for plantains. Plantains seemed to sustain less bruise volum e than bananas during the initial storage period, but their bruise vol ume increased much faster in the subsequent storage days than bananas.