Physico-chemical Properties and Antioxidant Activities of Under Protected and Organically Cultivated Some Banana Cultivars at Different Ripening Stages

In this research, several physico-chemical properties such as fruit weight, fruit width, fruit length, fruit height, fruit length/fruit width, peel thickness, peel weight, total soluble solids (TSS), pH, titratable acidity (TA), fruit firmness, fruit color and antioxidant activities of the fresh (harvest stage) green and yellow (ripe stage) fruit pulp of two different cultivar of banana plants (Dwarf Cavendish and Gross Michel) cultivated in under protection and organic growing system were determined. At the end of the research, the heaviest (170.297 g) and the largest (37.059 mm) fruit was obtained from Gross Michel (with peel) cultivar. Also, in terms of the highest fruit length and fruit height was found with peel and without peel forms of Gross Michel cultivar. In point of total soluble solid content, pH and titratable acidity values were obtained 22.1 %, 4.1 and 0.48 % for Dwarf Cavendish banana cultivar, these values were found 21.533 %, 4.6 and 0.503 % for Gross Michel banana cultivar, respectively. On the other hand, fruit firmness value was found to be 4.233 N/mm for Dwarf Cavendish cultivar and 4.500 N/mm for Gross Michel cultivar. However, no statistically significant differences were found in terms of fruit peel color among the varieties in the experiment. In addition, the antioxidant activities of the fruit pulp extracts were evaluated by using -the free radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) scavenging and metal (Fe^+2) chelating activities methods. Dwarf Cavendish banana cultivar fruit pulp had higher antioxidant activity at the ripe stage than Gross Michel banana cultivar.