Investigating The Relationship Between Ethylene Exposure And Ripeness Of Bananas

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between ethylene exposure and the ripening of bananas. We predicted that the proximity of an unripe (experimental) banana to a ripe (ethylene source) banana will increase the rate of ripening because a higher concentration of ethylene surrounds the ripe banana, thereby inducing accelerated ripening of the experimental banana. To test this, we placed unripe bananas 0 cm, 15 cm, and 30 cm away from a ripe banana. The appearance of dark spots on the surface of the experimental banana was quantified after one week using Adobe Photoshop. Analysis performed on our data using a one-way ANOVA test indicated no statistical significance in the difference of our treatments (p = 0.76895, p > 0.05 on a 95% confidence interval). These findings reveal that banana ripening is not affected by ethylene exposure at different distances, failing to reject the null hypothesis. Thus, the ripening rate of unripe bananas is not increased at closer proximity to ripe bananas.