Abstract: ‘Nantianhuang’ is a new banana cultivar with good traits and resistance to Fusarium wilt. Artificial ripening conditions for this cultivar are different from those for the traditional cultivar ‘Baxijiao’. In practice, postharvest ‘Nantianhuang’ are always ripened in the same way as ‘Baxijiao’, which is misleading. In this study, in order to improve the quality and extend the shelf life of bananas, ‘Nantianhuang’ and ‘Baxijiao’ bananas were sprayed with 500 mg/L ethephon and then assigned to 4 treatments: storage at (22 ± 2) ℃ (T2), packaging in biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film + storage at (22 ± 2) ℃ (T-2), storage at 17 ℃ (T1), and packaging in BOPP film + storage at 17 ℃ (T-1). Peel color, pulp firmness, fruit mass loss, total soluble solids content and shelf life were determined during storage, and fruit appearance characteristics during shelf life were recorded to establish an appropriate ripening protocol for ‘Nantianhuang’. Results showed that ‘Nantianhuang’ turned yellow one day earlier than ‘Baxijiao’ at 17 ℃, but one day later for T2 treatment group. The shelf life of ‘Nantianhuang’ was two days longer than ‘Baxijiao’ for T1 and T2 treatment groups. For both cultivars, the firmness, L*, C* and a* values of yellowed fruits for T1 treatment group were higher than T2 treatment group, and shelf life at 17 ℃ was prolonged two days. However, the T2 treatment group bananas had a brighter yellow color than T1 treatment group. BOPP film packaging effectively delayed bananas from turning yellow, prolonged the maturation period by four days, and shortened the shelf life. Therefore, it was concluded that artificial ripening at 21 ℃ first and then at 17 ℃ is the best condition to improve the maturity quality and prolong the shelf life of ‘Nantianhuang’.

Key words: banana, ‘Nantianhuang’, ‘Baxijiao’, artificial ripening, ethephon, biaxially oriented polypropylene film