Effects of storage conditions on nutritional compositions of banana

Abstract

Introduction Banana is an important staple food of millions of people in Africa. In this study the effects of storage conditions on the key nutritional compositions (carbohydrate, crude protein, crude fibre, fat, ash and moisture content) of banana were monitored. Objectives The objectives are to determine the effect of storage conditions on the nutritional contents of banana and to ascertain which storage condition will best suit the storage of bananas in a tropical country such as Nigeria. Methods In order to achieve the stated objectives, bananas were stored under three different conditions (refrigerator, polythene bag and open shelf) for a period of seven days. Temperature and relative humidity were varied over the storage period. Nutritional compositions of the bananas were monitored daily using standard laboratory analysis. Results The results obtained showed that temperature of banana in the refrigerator was between 4 and 51C at relative humidity of about 84%, for the polythene bag temperature ranged between 24 and 301C at 90–91% relative humidity, and for open air (shelf), the temperature varied between 23.5 and 26.01C at 90% relative humidity. Conclusion Nutritional analysis showed that all the storage methods experienced increases and decreases in nutrients. However, the refrigerator storage ranked best in terms of quality preservations of banana compared with the other two storage methods and is therefore recommended for small household preservation of bananas and a cold room for commercial storage.