Abstract‘Finger drop’, which is the dislodgement of individual banana ‘fingers’ from the bunch during ripening and marketing, was shown to be related to the conditions during fruit ripening. At high ripening temperatures fruit are generally softer than those ripened at temperatures of 20°C or lower when they reach eating ripeness. This is reflected in the strength of the fruit pedicel and can result in their having a strength sufficiently low that the fruit can easily be dislodged in handling and transport during marketing. However, ripening at very high temperatures (40°C) did not result in development of finger drop, but fruit ripened at this temperature were unmarketable. No consistent effects of ripening humidity were shown on the development of finger drop. Prolonged exposure of fruit to ethylene gas during ripening could increase finger drop in certain circumstances. Possible reasons as to how finger drop might be related to the ripening physiology of the fruit are discussed, and recommendations are made for furthe
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