Influence of bunch covers on quality of banana cv. jahaji (aaa) under high density planting system

Inferior quality of fruit has been considered as a drawback of fruits grown and developed in low temperature conditions. In addition to it, higher planting densities create a microclimate which also affects the quality of fruits. Regarding this problem, an investigation was carried out in the Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Jorhat during 2013-2014 in order to find out the best bunch cover material among white non-woven polypropylene bag, blue non-woven polypropylene bag, transparent polyethylene bag, leno bag, gunny bag, dry banana leaves and Control (no cover) in banana cv. Jahaji (AAA) under the high density planting system. Various quality characters were found to be significantly influenced by bunch cover application. The fruits under white non-woven polypropylene cover registered highest TSS (22.84°Brix) and lowest titrable acidity (0.23%). On the contrary, lowest TSS (19.36°Brix) and highest titrable acidity (0.27%) was obtained in the control bunches. Sugar-acid ratio and pulp-peel ratio was found uniform in all the treatments without showing any significant differences among them. However, reducing, non-reducing and total sugars were lowest in blue non-woven polypropylene (8.70%, 8.71% and 17.42%, respectively) compared to the highest in control (9.03%, 9.01% and 18.04%, respectively).