Q53 - Hydrogen Water and Banana Ripening
Banana is a climacteric fruit in which ripening is associated with a burst of ethylene production and respiration. Hydrogen water (HW) has been tested as a potential treatment to delay postharvest ripening.
In the experiment, banana fruits were treated with HW or distilled water (control) and stored. Several parameters were measured over time: color change (degreening), firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), and ethylene production.
True or false?
Q53.1. Degreening is a physiological process associated with ripening or senescence of banana fruit.
Q53.2. The integrity of cell wall in HW-treated banana fruit is maintained through reduction in cell wall degradation.
Q53.3. The ripening of control and HW-treated fruit mainly began differentiation after 10 days of storage.
Q53.4. HW treatment significantly reduced ethylene production and delayed fruit ripening.
Question reproduced from IBO 2023, Theoretical Paper 2, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - attributed to the International Biology Olympiad. Open the full exam PDF