Some fruit quality characteristics of ‘Grand Naine’ banana fruits during various ripening stages

During ripening and ageing, the chemical components and antioxidant capabilities of bananas alter dramatically. The effects of different ripening stages (green, ripen and over ripe) of the flesh of banana cultivar 'Grand Naine' on the total phenolic substance, antioxidant capacity of banana flesh, total sugar, sucrose , fructose , and glucose content were investigated. The total phenolic content was found to be 10.54 mg GAE /100g in the green (first stage) banana, 9.03 mg GAE /100g in the medium ripe banana (fourth stage) and 13.46 mg GAE /100g in the over ripe (seventh stage) banana. When comparing the antioxidant contents, the highest DPPH (%) radical scavenging value was obtained from the fruits of the fully ripe (seventh stage) banana (51.64%), while the lowest %DPPH radical scavenging value was obtained from the fruits of the fully ripe (seventh stage) banana (17.06%). In the Frap assey, the overripe banana had the highest content of Trolox equivalents (TE), 1.24 mg TE / g FW, followed by the medium ripe (0.63 mg TE / g FW) and the green banana (0.56 mg TE / g FW). The HPLC sugar profiles displayed that sucrose is the most important sugar, followed by fructose and glucose in all ripening stages of banana fruit pulp samples. The content of soluble sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) in the 'Grand Naine' banana increased during the fruit ripening stages. 'Grand Naine' showed increasing sugar content as ripening progressed and was highest when the fruit was fully ripe.