Evaluation of banana varieties and osmotic agents on physical attributes of intermediate moisture (IM) banana

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of different osmotic agents on the physical attributes of Intermediate Moisture (IM) fruit, using six cultivars of banana (Musa spp.) belonging to different genomic groups viz. Nendran (AAB), Pisang Lilin (AA), Karpooravalli (ABB), Njalipoovan (AB), Grand Naine (ABB) and Yangambi km5 (AAA). Banana fruits were cut into longitudinal slices of 8mm thickness to evaluate the physical quality using seven osmotic agents (sucrose, glucose, sucrose + sorbitol, glucose + sorbitol, palm sugar, honey, sucrose + NaCl). The fruits were steam blanched for 2 minutes before being immersed in osmotic solutions for an 8-hour duration at a fruit: osmotic solution ratio of 1:2 and subsequently dried for two hours using a tray drier at 60oC. A significant difference (p=0.05) in water loss was only for the variety Grand Naine (62.12%) in fruits treated with honey and the lowest (29.77%) in the variety Karpooravalli in fruit slices immersed in sucrose. Higher (23.55%) solid gain was recorded in the variety Grand Naine in fruit slices immersed in glucose syrup and lowest (5.83%) in the variety Karpooravalli in fruit slices treated with honey. IM banana of variety Pisang Lilin had the highest (45.40%) weight loss in fruit slices immersed in honey and the lowest (19.13%) in variety Pisang Lilin in fruit slices immersed in glucose+sorbitol. IM banana from variety Njalipoovan had the highest (27.46%) moisture content in fruit slices immersed in palm sugar (T5) solution and the lowest (13.53%) in variety Nendran in fruit slices immersed in sucrose+NaCl. A higher value for water activity was in IM banana variety ‘Pisang Lilin’ treated with sucrose (0.86) and the lowest (0.79) was recorded in varieties Nendran and Grand Naine. IM banana developed from all six varieties treated with honey and combinations of sucrose, glucose, and sorbitol had the lowest water activity. It can be concluded that the more the ‘A’ genome in banana varieties, the higher its permeability for mass transfer. IM banana treated with honey, a combination of sucrose and glucose, and sorbitol had higher values for water loss, solid gain and weight loss and lower values for moisture content and water activity.