• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.165-170
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• 2008

Protein-energy malnutrition is regarded as one of the public health problems in developing countries as a result of poor feeding practices due to poverty. This study, therefore, aimed at evaluating nutritional quality of a potential weaning food formulated from locally available food materials. The cooking banana fruit(CB) and bambara groundnut seeds(BG) were purchased from local market in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. The CB and BG were processed into flours, mixed in ratios of 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40 and subjected into proximate, sensory and biochemical analyses using standard procedures. Nutrend(a commercial formula) and ogi(corn gruel, a traditional weaning food) were used as control. The nutritient composition(g/100 g) of the food samples were ranged as follows: moisture 2.94-6.94, protein 7.02-16.0, ash 1.76-2.99, fat 0.76-8.45, fibre 1.52-3.75, carbohydrate 63.84-88.43 and energy 1569.8-1665.7 kcal. The biological value(BV), net protein retention(NPR), protein efficiency ratio(PER) and feed efficiency ratio(FER) of the experimental food samples were significantly(p<0.05) lower than nutrend, but higher than ogi. The haematological variables of rats fed with formulated food samples, commercial formula(nutrend) and traditional weaning food(ogi) were not significantly(p>0.05) influenced by the dietary treatment. However, the values obtained for red blood cell(RBC), white blood cell(WBC), pack cell volume(PCV) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR) were higher in the experimental food samples than the commercial food. The growth rate of animals fed with experimental food samples were lower than those fed with the nutrend, but higher than those fed with ogi. In conclusion, the nutritional quality of CB and fermented BG mix of 60:40 ratio was better than ogi; and comparable to the nutrend. This implies that it can be used to replace low quality traditional weaning food and the expensive commercial weaning formula.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1171-1176
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• 2004

Three banana-shaped achiral compounds, 4-chloro-1,3-phenylene bis [4-{4-(undecenyloxy)phenyl imino-methyl} benzoate] derivatives, were synthesized with variation of a substituent (x=H, F, Cl); their antiferro-electric properties are described. The smectic mesophases, including a switchable chiral smectic C(Sm $C^{\ast}$) phase, were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy, triangular wave method, and X-ray diffractometry. The presence of vinyl groups at the terminals of linear side wings in the banana-shaped achiral molecules induced a decrease in melting temperature and formation of the switchable Sm $C^{\ast}$ phase in the melt. The smectic phase having a lateral fluorine-substituent at 3-position of the Schiff's base moiety showed antiferroelctric switching, and the value of spontaneous polarization on reversal of an applied electric field was 250 nC/$cm^2$ .

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.355-368
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• 2022

This paper investigates the impact of length and volume fractions (VFs) of banana fibres (BFs) on the mechanical and physical properties of concrete. The mechanical properties were compressive strength, splitting tensile, flexural strength, and bond stress, while the physical properties were unit weight and absorption. The slump test was used to determine workability. The concrete's behaviour with BFs was studied using scanning electron microscopy. Experimental work of concrete mixtures with BFs of various lengths (12 mm, 25 mm, and 35 mm) and VFs (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) were carried out. The samples did not indicate any agglomeration of fibres or heterogeneity during mixing. The addition of BFs to concrete with VFs of up to 1.50% for all fibre lengths have a significant impact on mechanical properties, also the longer fibres performed better than shorter ones at all volume fractions of BFs. The mix10, which contain BFs with VFs 1.5% and length 35 mm, demonstrated the highest mechanical properties. The compressive strength, splitting tensile, flexural strength, and bond stress of the mix10 were 37.71 MPa, 4.27 Mpa, 6.12 MPa, and 6.75 MPa, an increase of 7.37%, 20.96%, 24.13%, and 11.2% over the reference concrete, which was 35.12 MPa, 3.53 MPa, 4.93 MPa, and 6.07 MP, respectively. The absorption is increased for all lengths by increasing the VFs up to 1.5%. Longer fibres have lower absorption, while shorter fibres have higher absorption. The mix8 had the highest absorption of 4.52%, compared to 3.12% for the control mix. Furthermore, the microstructure of concrete was improved through improved bonding between the fibres and the matrix, which resulted in improved mechanical properties of the composite.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.707-728
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• 2024

This study aimed to assess the colorizing properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) using plant-based dyes, namely spinach, beet, and banana peel, and determine the dyeing conditions of each dye based on color strength (K/S) values. Tannic acid and walnut shell powder were utilized as bio-mordants, and their effects on the dyeability of BC were compared to metallic mordants. Additionally, the type of mordant and the mordanting method were assessed according to their rubbing fastness and dry-cleaning fastness. The K/S values of the colorized and mordanted BCs were also compared to examine their mordanting conditions. Finally, the mordanting conditions for spinach, beet, and banana peel dyeing were selected as post-mordanting with tannic acid, meta-mordanting with tannic acid, and post-mordanting with walnut shell powder, respectively. Based on the results, the selected mordanting conditions improved both rubbing fastness and dry-cleaning fastness of BCs to grade 5, and the light fastness achieved grade 4-5. The tensile strength and flexibility of the dyed BCs were also enhanced and comparable to that of untreated cowhide leather.

• Agribusiness and Information Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2016

India is largest producer of banana in the world producing 29.72 million tonnes from an area of 0.803 million ha with a productivity of 35.7 MT ha-1 and accounted for 15.48 and 27.01 per cent of the world's area and production respectively (www.nhb.gov.in). In India, Tamil Nadu leads other states both in terms of area and production followed by Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. In Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, Kurnool district had special reputation in the cultivation of banana in an area of 5765 hectares with an annual production of 2.01 lakh tonnes in the year 2012-13 and hence, it was purposively chosen for the study. On $23^{rd}$ November 2003, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has commenced a comprehensive project called 'Andhra Pradesh Micro Irrigation Project (APMIP)', first of its kind in the world so as to promote water use efficiency. APMIP is offering 100 per cent of subsidy in case of SC, ST and 90 per cent in case of other categories of farmers up to 5.0 acres of land. In case of acreage between 5-10 acres, 70 per cent subsidy and acreage above 10, 50 per cent of subsidy is given to the farmer beneficiaries. The sampling frame consists of Kurnool district, two mandals, four villages and 180 sample farmers comprising of 60 farmers each from Marginal (<1ha), Small (1-2ha) and Other (>2ha) categories. A well structured pre-tested schedule was employed to collect the requisite information pertaining to the performance of drip irrigation among the sample farmers and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model was employed to analyze the performance of drip irrigation in banana farms. The performance of drip irrigation was assessed based on the parameters like: Land Development Works (LDW), Fertigation costs (FC), Volume of water supplied (VWS), Annual maintenance costs of drip irrigation (AMC), Economic Status of the farmer (ES), Crop Productivity (CP) etc. The first four parameters are considered as inputs and last two as outputs for DEA modelling purposes. The findings revealed that, the number of farms operating at CRS are more in number in other farms (46.66%) followed by marginal (45%) and small farms (28.33%). Similarly, regarding the number of farmers operating at VRS, the other farms are again more in number with 61.66 per cent followed by marginal (53.33%) and small farms (35%). With reference to scale efficiency, marginal farms dominate the scenario with 57 per cent followed by others (55%) and small farms (50%). At pooled level, 26.11 per cent of the farms are being operated at CRS with an average technical efficiency score of 0.6138 i.e., 47 out of 180 farms. Nearly 40 per cent of the farmers at pooled level are being operated at VRS with an average technical efficiency score of 0.7241. As regards to scale efficiency, nearly 52 per cent of the farmers (94 out of 180 farmers) at pooled level, either performed at the optimum scale or were close to the optimum scale (farms having scale efficiency values equal to or more than 0.90). Majority of the farms (39.44%) are operating at IRS and only 29 per cent of the farmers are operating at DRS. This signifies that, more resources should be provided to these farms operating at IRS and the same should be decreased towards the farms operating at DRS. Nearly 32 per cent of the farms are operating at CRS indicating efficient utilization of resources. Log linear regression model was used to analyze the major determinants of input use efficiency in banana farms. The input variables considered under DEA model were again considered as influential factors for the CRS obtained for the three categories of farmers. Volume of water supplied ($X_1$) and fertigation cost ($X_2$) are the major determinants of banana farms across all the farmer categories and even at pooled level. In view of their positive influence on the CRS, it is essential to strengthen modern irrigation infrastructure like drip irrigation and offer more fertilizer subsidies to the farmer to enhance the crop production on cost-effective basis in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, India. This study further suggests that, the present era of Information Technology will help the irrigation management in the context of generating new techniques, extension, adoption and information. It will also guide the farmers in irrigation scheduling and quantifying the irrigation water requirements in accordance with the water availability in a particular season. So, it is high time for the Government of India to pay adequate attention towards the applications of 'Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its applications in irrigation water management' for facilitating the deployment of Decision Supports Systems (DSSs) at various levels of planning and management of water resources in the country.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.340-344
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• 1995

Banana purchased from local market was stored at 5, 15 and $25^{\circ}C$ for 10 days after which free sugars and organic acids were determined. The amount of glucose, fructose and sucrose was $0.30{\sim}0.36%$ at the initial time of storage. The changes of free sugar was influenced by storage temperature. At $5^{\circ}C$, little change in the content of each free sugar was measured and sucrose had a slightly higher value. Glucose and fructose showed a predominant increase while sucrose content decreased at 15 and $25^{\circ}C$. The values of total sugar, reducing sugar, glucose, fructose and free sugar contents at $25^{\circ}C$ were higher than at any other storage temperature. Citrate, malate, lactate and acetate in Banana were identified as organic acids. The total amount of organic acid decreased from $305{\sim}373.3$ mg% at the initial time to $45.9{\sim}67.9$ mg% after 9 days of storage. The reduction of organic acids contents was relatively high at $25^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.9
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• pp.1122-1127
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• 2017

Currently, the consumer trends are increasing towards "natural" in all food systems. Therefore, in the flavor industry, the production of flavor esters by "natural" methods are needed. On the other hand, "natural flavor" is expensive to produce because of the limited natural source. Recently, the flavor obtained from the enzyme or microbial could be represented as "natural flavor". Ethyl butyrate is used most frequently as a fruity aroma in drinks and the processed food industry. In this study, ethyl butyrate was synthesized enzymatically using the ester synthetase obtained from the waste of pineapple and banana peel. The ethyl butyrate production optimization was analyzed using a response surface methodology. The enzyme reaction variances were composed of the ethanol content, butyric acid content, and reaction time. As a result, in ester synthetase obtained from banana peel, the maximum predicted production amounts were 45.8199 mM at an ethanol content of 38.7050 mM, butyric acid content of 50.9019 mM, and reaction time of 4.3662 h. In ester synthetase obtained from pineapple peel, the maximum predicted production was 65.1087 mM at an ethanol content of 54.6502 mM, butyric acid content of 58.7638 mM, and reaction time of 4.7436 h. In conclusion, ethyl butyrate production was shown the more useful using the ester synthetase obtained from pineapple peel than that from banana peel.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.9-22
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• 2020

This study was designed to use the safety management data for residual pesticides in imported banana based on the investigation of pesticide residue detection of agricultural products with different origins in the Republic of Korea. From the USA, EU, UK, Japan and Korea from 2007 to 2018, the results of banana residue pesticides were summarized into detected pesticides, number of inspections, number of pesticide detection cases, and the amount of detected pesticide residue. A total of 109 pesticides were detected for the pesticide residue and pesticide detection rate was 4.58% in 206,894 cases. The detection rate was ranged within 10.62-24.62% for chlorpyrifos, imazalil, methyl-bromide, azoxystrobin, carbendazim, pretilachlor and thiabendazole. Among them, chlorpyrifos was detected most often followed by imazalil, azoxystrobin, thiabendazole, bifenthrin and carbendazim. According to the results of monitoring data for bananas in EU, Japan, USA, UK and Korea, the kinds of detected pesticides were 85, 57, 23, 18 and 8, respectively. Azoxystrobin, bifenthrin and chloropyrifos were found in monitoring data of all countries. Fourteen and twelve pesticides were detected in bananas from Costa Rica and Ecuador, respectively. Imazalil and thiabendazole were detected in 16 and 11 origins, respectively. Myclobutanil and iprodione were detected in four and two countries, respectively. In bananas from Costa Rica, azoxystrobin and bifenthrin were detected 11.8 and 9.8%, respectively, and the detection rate of azoxystrobin was 19% in bananas from Colombia. Chlorpyrifos was detected 22.7, 13.3 and 10.8% in bananas from Belize, Colombia and Costa Rica respectively. Myclobutanil was detected in bananas from Colombia and Costa Rica with the rate of 17.9 and 10.4%, respectively.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.475-481
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• 2013

This study was performed in order to compare the changes in fruit quality and antioxidant activity depending on the ripeness degree of the banana flesh and peel (unripe, ripe, and over ripe) when stored at room temperature for 6 days. The moisture contents showed differences such as the significantly lower maturity in the over ripe fruit peel and the moisture content increase in the fruit flesh during ripening. During the maturity stage, the L and b values decreased, while the a value increased. During ripening, the titratable acidity (TA) decreased, while the soluble solids contents (SS), sugar acid ratio (SS/TA), total sugar, and reducing sugar contents increased, respectively. Also during ripening, the glucose and the fructose contents increased considerably, thus resulting in the decrease of the sucrose content. In addition, this study revealed that the phenolic substance, which was part of the fruit skin, showed more favorable reaction to radical ability than the fruit flesh. Furthermore, the DPPH, ABTS radical scavenging ability, and reducing power showed better reaction for the fruit skin than for the fruit flesh, and there was a significant increase in the antioxidative activity as a result of the higher levels of phenolic substance. Therefore, maturity played an important role in changing the chemical composition and physiological activity of a banana. The unripe peels could be used as antioxidant ingredients and they could also enhance the biological activity in the utilization of by-products.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.108-122
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• 2023

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol) and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc), are the causal agent of Fusarium wilt disease of tomato and banana, respectively, and cause significant yield losses worldwide. A cost-effective measure, such as biological control agents, was used as an alternative method to control these pathogens. Therefore, in this study, six isolates of the Streptomyces-like colony were isolated from soils and their antagonistic activity against phytopathogenic fungi and plant growth-promoting (PGP) activity were assessed. The results showed that these isolates could inhibit the mycelial growth of Fol and Foc. Among them, isolate STRM304 showed the highest percentage of mycelial growth reduction and broad-spectrum antagonistic activity against all tested fungi. In the pot experiment study, the culture filtrate of isolates STRM103 and STRM104 significantly decreased disease severity and symptoms in Fol inoculated plants. Similarly, the culture filtrate of the STRM304 isolate significantly reduced the severity of the disease and symptoms of the disease in Foc inoculated plants. The PGP activity test presents PGP activities, such as indole acetic acid production, phosphate solubilization, starch hydrolysis, lignin hydrolysis, and cellulase activity. Interestingly, the application of the culture filtrate from all isolates increased the percentage of tomato seed germination and stimulated the growth of tomato plants and banana seedlings, increasing the elongation of the shoot and the root and shoot and root weight compared to the control treatment. Therefore, the isolate STRM103 and STRM104, and STRM304 could be used as biocontrol and PGP agents for tomato and banana, respectively, in sustainable agriculture.