BANANA CULTIVARS WITH RESISTANCE TO BLACK LEAF STREAK AND POTENTIAL FOR JAM PROCESSING

Dessert banana cultivars used in the agro-industry belong mainly to the Cavendish subgroup (AAA), highly susceptible to black leaf streak (BLS). The objective of this study was to compare physicochemical and sensory data of banana jams using fruits of BLS-resistant genotypes with that of jams made from the traditional cultivar ‘Grande Naine’. Variables evaluated were pH, titratable acidity TTA, soluble solids, total solids, yield, total sugars, reducing sugars and non-reducing sugars, humidity, water activity, firmness, adhesiveness and color. The multisample difference test was used for sensory analysis. There were no differences among the treatments for total soluble solids, total solids, humidity, brightness and yellowness. The total tritratable acidity and reducing sugars were superior in jams obtained from resistant genotypes. The non-reducing sugars in the jams produced from ‘Bucaneiro’, ‘Calipso’, ‘Thap Maeo’, ‘FHIA-18’ and ‘FHIA-02’ were inferior compared to ‘Grande Naine’, and the firmness of the jams from ‘Thap Maeo’, ‘Caipira’ and ‘FHIA-18’ was superior to that of ‘Grande Naine’. The highest adhesiveness was found in jams from ‘Caipira’ and the highest redness in jams from ‘Thap Maeo’. The sugars were the variables responsible for the greatest diversity. In the cluster analysis, jam from ‘Grande Naine’ was close to the ‘Caipira’, ‘Ambrosia’, ‘Calipso’ and ‘Bucaneiro’ jams. Jam from ‘Thap Maeo’ was the most distant from ‘Grande Naine’. The judges did not notice any significant differences in flavor for the jams produced with ‘Bucaneiro’, ‘Calipso’, ‘Thap Maeo’, ‘FHIA-02’ and ‘FHIA-18’ in comparison to the ‘Grande Naine’ control. ‘FHIA-18’ had a slightly better performance than ‘Grande Naine’. These results indicate that some banana genotypes with BLS resistance can be recommended for the production of jams, yielding similar or superior quality as ‘Grande Naine’.