Pre-storage Exogenous Application of Hydrogen Sulphide Reduces Sugar spot, Decay loss and Preserves Quality of Banana Fruit

This research focuses on effect of hydrogen sulphide treatment (control, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 mM) during ambient storage on sugar spot, decay loss and postharvest quality of banana fruit. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) treated fruit were stored at ambient conditions (25 +/- 2 degrees C and 60-65% of relative humidity) up to 9 days. In general, H2S treatment maintained higher values of lightness, peel firmness, reduce the respiration rate and ethylene evolution rate and extended shelf life of stored fruit by delaying progression of ripening. Moreover, H2S (1.0 mM) was found significantly better over other treatments in reducing sugar spot or peel browning spot and maintaining the desirable overall postharvest traits of the fruit. The findings indicated that H2S has a great potential for pre-storage application to preserve quality, reduce sugar spot and postharvest decay loss, possibly through the delayed onset of senescence, without any adverse effects on fruit quality.