Response of the Microbial Community in Unripe and Ripe Bananas with Chitosan Treatment to Delay Fruit Ripening

Banana ripening is a complex process influenced by various factors, including the fruit’s microbiome, which impacts quality and shelf life. Due to banana fruit’s short ripening period, there is a need to develop methods to delay ripening of banana fruits to improve the quality, such as through chitosan treatment. The study aimed was to analyze the microbial community associated with the banana fruits treated with chitosan (1.25%) to delay ripening. Samples of banana (Cavendish banana, Musa acuminata, genome group AAA) pulp and peel were collected on day 1 and day 7 during ripening and were analyzed using 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing to identify microbial shifts. The amplicon profiling involved taxonomic identification using QIIME2 and functional profile prediction using Piphillin were conducted. Chitosan-coated fruits exhibited slower ripening compared to the control group, with notable changes in microbial composition. From eight samples, 138 genera were identified. The most dominant genus was Alcaligenes (69.293%), followed by genera Pseudomonas (10.06%), Acinetobacter (5.15%) and Thermus (2.84%). The changes in Pseudomonas and Alcaligenes percentages in chitosan-treated banana fruits effectively delay ripening by altering the microbial community structure, offering a potential solution to reduce postharvest losses and improve banana fruit quality.