EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SOURCES OF ETHYLENE GAS ON RIPENING AND POST-HARVEST QUALITY OF BANANA (MUSA ACUMINALA L.) VAR. LATUNDAN

This study was conducted on July 8-18, 2019 at Mindanao State University-General Santos City College of Agriculture laboratory area. The objective of the study was to evaluate and identify which ethylene gas source is the most effective ripening Latundan banana and also its effect on palatability. A Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used in this experiment with five treatments replicated 3 times. The treatments used as sources of ethylene gas for ripening: Treatment 1 - Control (Noapplication), T2 - Madre de cacao leaves, T3 - Wood ash, T4- Neem leaves, T5 - Rice straws, T6 Ethepon. The results indicatedthat a highly significant difference was revealed among treatments means on fruit weight and days to ripening bit not on Total Soluble Solids on the effectof different sources of ethylene gas on ripening if Latundan banana. On the other hand, Visual Quality Rating (VQR) showed that the different sources of ethylene gas got acceptable result on taste test, flesh quality, attractiveness, texture (mouthfeel) ratings. The overall implication of the study revealed that the ethelon (T6) was the best ripening agent (4.67 days) closely followed by wood ash (7.33 days). On the VQR, the most outstandting treatment was T5 (rice straws) with a mean of 2.44 rating of acceptability.