Effect on Physiological Properties of Banana Fruit Based on Pendulum Impact Test and Storage

This study investigated the effect of mechanical damage of different impact energies (0.074 J, 0.160 J, 0.273 J) generated by a pendulum impactor and evaluated the bruise intensity and quality changes of bananas after 12 days of storage at 5, 13, and 22 °C. The bruise area (BA) and bruise susceptibility (BS) in the banana fruit were significantly increased as impact damage increased. The results of weight loss % and electrolyte leakage (EL%) were highly dependent on all studied factors; in the order of storage temperature > storage days > impact level. Storage temperature and impact damage accelerated the incidence of transpiration rate (TRm) during storage. Regarding color measurements, the results of image processing emphasized that storage at 13 °C exhibited the ideal color change in bruised fruit, which revealed a slow increment in lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) until the last day of storage. The ethylene production rate (EPR) was recorded at its maximum peak on days 2 and 12 with values of 3.85 × 10−3 and 3.08 × 10−3 mg kg−1h−1 in banana fruit bruised by high-impact (0.273 J) and stored at 22 °C. Regardless of impact level, all size measurements reduction % including, surface area (As), geometric mean diameter (Dg), and fruit volume (Vf) of bruised bananas were higher at ambient storage conditions than those stored at 5 and 13 °C. The results of regression analysis can confirm the possibility of bruise susceptibility (BS) to estimate the quality changes of bruised fruit during storage.