Postharvest Dip Treatment with a Natural Phospholipid Along with Lecithin May Extend the Shelf Life of Banana Fruit

Lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE), a natural lipid, has been investigated for retarding senescence and promoting the shelf life of fruit and other plant tissues. LPE is water insoluble phospholipid. For most experimental purposes, LPE is dispersed in water prior to treatment of fruits using sonication. In present study, we tried to disperse LPE in water using a formulation of   enzymatic hydrolyzed soy lecithin. A combination of LPE and lecithin was used for a dip treatment of banana fruits. For this purpose, banana fruits at stage 2 (3/4 green) were dipped in this solution for 30 minutes, and then stored at room temperature for 10 days. Significant decrease in fruit marketability was observed in non-treated as well as water dipped fruits between 6-8 days after treatment. As observed in our previous studies, LPE alone treated fruits demonstrated improvement in shelf life as compared to untreated and water treated fruits. Interestingly, lecithin alone treatment also seems to improve shelf life but this improvement was less than LPE alone treatment. A combination of 100 ppm LPE and 500 ppm lecithin gave the best improvement in shelf life. In this treatment over 60% of the fruits were marketable at 7 days after treatment. Whereas, only about 20% of the fruits were marketable in the untreated as well as water treated fruits. These preliminary results suggest that there is a potential to improve shelf life of banana fruits using a combination of LPE and enzymatic hydrolyzed soy lecithin.