Shelf Life Extension of Cavendish Banana Fruit Using Cold Plasma Treatment

Access to bio-safe food being a worldwide concern in recent years, a significant interest has emerged towards research on organic farming and innovative food processing technologies. Cold plasma technology-based treatments are gaining popularity as it can disinfect surfaces while being a biosafe eco-friendly process. The interaction of ions, electrons, free radicals, and excited-state atomic and molecular species with surfaces makes them free from organic contaminants. Recent studies have shown that the high energy species in plasma can efficiently disable microbial pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. This study investigates the deactivation of Colletotrichum musae, Fusarium semitectum, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides fungi that causes crown rot on Cavendish banana using a locally fabricated cold plasma treatment machine. Colletotrichum musae, Fusarium semitectum, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides have been identified as the main cause for crown rot disease in Sri Lanka, which has recorded losses over 85% for untreated bananas. The results show that the percentage disease index (PDI) for cold plasma treated samples were significantly lower than the controlled, and the fungicide treated samples while not adversely affecting the physicochemical and sensory properties of the banana fruit.