APPLICATION OF TIO2 NANOPARTICLES AND FOOD STORAGE CHAMBER IN POSTHARVEST TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT FOR DELAYING BANANA FRUIT RIPENING

• Main Author: Rizanti, Meirifa
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/57870
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The supply of bananas requires a long chain, starting from the source of production to reaching the consumers, so they are often too ripe. This is because bananas as a climacteric fruit will ripen relatifly quickly when harvested with the production of ethylene, therefore the supply chain needs to be handled very well. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the photocatalyst compounds that can degrade ethylene, making it possible to inhibit the ripening process in fruit. In addition, one of the technologies that can extend the shelf life of fruit is to use Modified Atmospheric Storage (MAS), including the Fruit Storage Chamber (FSC). Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the effect of storage combining the two methods described, namely by using a modified storage chamber called FSC and the use of manganese (Mn) doped TiO2 particles. The method used in this study were: optimization of the best TiO2, then the treatment was carried out by storing samples of 9-week-old green ripe Cavendish bananas in five conditions, namely open space as control (K), in large FSC (FB), in small FSC (FK), in FSC with large TiO2-Mn plates (FTB), and in FSC with small TiO2-Mn plates (FTK) for 7 days. Furthermore, physical analysis was carried out which included changes in fruit skin color, physiological analyzes such as ethylene concentration, sugar content, and respiration rate, as well as analysis of relatif gene expression levels related to the glycolysis pathway (ADH2, BAM3, PKM, PFK3, PGK). Data analysis was carried out on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 after treatment. The results of the physiological analysis carried out showed that the respiration rate, ethylene concentration, and sugar content of the samples stored in the FSC that were given large TiO2-Mn (FTB) were lower than the other treatments. This can be seen from the physiological analysis data at the 7th point of sampling for FTB treatment, namely respiration rate (0.5779 ppm/g.hour), ethylene concentration (0.586 ppm/g.hour), and sugar content (2,069 °Brix). ) In addition, physically the samples with this treatment experienced changes in skin color which were also slower than the other treatment samples. The results of the analysis of gene expression related to the glycolysis pathway (PKM, PFK3, PGK) and genes that play a role in starch degradation (BAM3) showed that samples stored in FSC with TiO2 had lower relatif gene expression values compared to control samples and samples stored only inside FSC without TiO2. In addition, the ADH gene which is the gene encoding the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme that plays a role in converting pyruvate into ethanol has a relatifly high level of expression. This result correlated with the low respiration rate in the treatment of FSC with large TiO2. The relatif expression levels of each gene were significantly different at days 3, 5, and 7 for samples stored in FSCs with TiO2. This shows that the administration of TiO2 to FSC can inhibit the glycolysis process which is characterized by low expression of glycolysis-related genes which generally increase when the fruit undergoes the ripening process. Based on these results, it can be concluded that FSCs treated with TiO2 plates were able to slow down the ripening process of bananas after harvest by suppressing the expression of genes related to respiration.