Biochemical Changes in Sugars and Cell Wall Degrading Enzymes during Ripening of Banana

Changes in reducing sugar and cell wall degrading enzymes during ripening of banana for 10 days were investigated. The amount of reducing sugar in bananas increased during storage at room temperature during the first 7 days, and decreased thereafter. However, starch content in banana decreased during ripening, and invertase and cell wall degrading enzymes such as cellulase, polygalacturonase and xylanase were most active after bananas were stored for 7 days at room temperature. When the bananas were stored at 4$^{\circ}C$, the magnitude of changes were much less than during room temperature storage.