Alteraciones que no permiten cumplir con los estándares de calidad del banano para exportación en la hacienda María Antonieta

Abstract

The study was carried out at Hacienda María Antonieta, which has an area of 65 ha. It is located in El Piedrero Sector, Canton El Triunfo, Province of Guayas, with a geographical location 2º 10`44,16 "South Latitude and 79º 34`57.46" West Longitude. In this research there are no treatments, we will simply carry out the direct observation in the field of the alterations that present the different bunches harvested by batches existing in the hacienda, thus we have the lots: Orange, Gray, Yellow, Coffee, Green, Template, Template "A". Post-harvest management of bananas is important because losses can reach 100% of the crop due to problems of mechanical damage, rotting and premature ripening. The response variables taken into account for this investigation were: on grade, low grade, Viruses; Fall of field, altered, explosive, cream, erwinia and cochineal. In conclusion, the most common diseases detected in the bananas harvested within the María Antonieta estate are the virus with 5% of the total number of clusters affected; Followed by conditions caused by Erwinia bacteria with 4% and Cochinilla with 2%. As it is evident these percentages are too low to represent a problem of economic impact within the banana production. The most prevalent factor in the affection of banana clusters at the time of harvest is the over grade with 35% of the total number of clusters affected, followed by the low grade with 18%. These two alterations account for 53% of the total number of altered clusters. In the María Antonieta estate, the percentage of post-harvest banana losses is 2.49% due to several factors. This percentage shows that the losses are within the range allowed by the exporting company DOLE, and it does not represent significant losses for this estate.