PRE-DESIGN OF CAVENDISH BANANA INDUSTRY WITH CHITOSAN COATING AT THE MSME SCALE IN BUKTI VILLAGE, BALI: APPLICATION OF CHITOSAN COATING TO DELAY THE RIPENING OF CAVENDISH BANANA FRUIT IN THE GLYCOLYSIS PATHWAY

• Main Author: Syifa Puti Salim, Athira
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/73824
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Banana is one of the horticultural plant commodities cultivated in Indonesia and is one of the leading commodities. However, based on data from 2007 to 2011, Indonesia's banana exports were still relatively low compared to other ASEAN countries. Bananas are prone to quality degradation of up to 25-50%. This can occur due to physiological changes, softening of the fruit, and lack of defense against microbial attacks. Bananas are also susceptible to damage because they belong to the climacteric fruit group. Therefore, several breakthroughs have been proposed to address this issue, one of which is chitosan coating. This research was conducted to confirm the effect of delaying ripening in Cavendish bananas, both physically and physiologically, as well as based on the analysis of gene expression in the glycolysis pathway. The physical and physiological tests carried out included appearance analysis, ethylene production rate, respiration rate, total soluble solids (TSS) content, starch content changes, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis to analyze the expression of the 6-phosphofructokinase 3 (PFK) and pyruvate kinase (PKM) genes. The results of the study showed that chitosan coating, based on the physical and physiological tests conducted, can delay the ripening process of bananas. The delay in the ripening process can also be observed through the relative expression levels of genes in the glycolysis pathway based on qPCR results. In chitosan-coated bananas, PFK experienced a decrease in expression during storage, while the PKM gene showed an increase in expression. The differences in gene expression are reflected in the physical and physiological characteristics of the bananas. Therefore, it can be concluded that chitosan coating can be used as an alternative to delay the ripening of bananas during storage.