Production and quality of banana 'BRS Conquista' bagged with different colored polypropylene bags.

In the world, the second most traded fruit is banana, which is highly appreciated by Brazilian consumers. Moreover, new technologies have been used to improve fruit quality during cultivation. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the influence of plastic bag colours on the production and quality of banana ‘BRS Conquista’. Treatments consisted in the use of commercial polypropylene bags with the colours white, black, red and blue, in addition to the control (non-bagged). The study used a randomized complete block design with five treatments, four replicates and four plants per plot, totalling 80 plants. Assessments consisted of bunch mass; rachis mass; fruit total mass; mean cluster mass; number of fruits per bunch and per cluster; fruit length and diameter; besides fruits physicochemical traits, such as soluble solids, titratable acidity, pulp/peel ratio and maturation index. Results indicated that no interference was obtained by the different plastic bag colours in productive variables. However, a greater content of soluble solids was observed in non-bagged bunches.