Management of post-harvest fruit quality for ecologically intensified banana cropping systems

The management of banana postharvest conditions is a pre-requisite for adapting the storage, shipping and gassing conditions to the specific physiology of individual hybrid bananas. The cultivar 'CIRAD 925', developed by CIRAD, is a good case study for adapting banana food chain conditions to accommodate the specificities of this hybrid. Indeed, the storage and ripening conditions should be adapted to this cultivar which is tolerant to the black leaf streak disease. The management of temperature and relative humidity during the maturation step is therefore a key challenge to avoid peel splitting and browning. These physiological disorders are exposed here, and associated biochemical factors are described and discussed. The cuticular wax behaviour during ripening at different relative humidities and its impact on peel splitting and browning is associated with the intensity of these disorders.