Defining factors significant for optimisation and management of technological process for green banana fruit ripening

This paper has a purpose of defining factors affecting process optimization and improvement of green banana fruit ripening technology, not only on the territory of the Republic of Serbia where the research was performed, but wider, as well. On the sample of 144 fruit ripening treatments, according to the three-factor experiment with three main parameters (the land of origin, process temperature and concentration of ripening gas) the influence of factors significant for production process and end fruit quality was examined. Out of the group of 72 internal and external indicators, 13 variables with the highest influence on process efficiency and optimization were selected and formed. By implementing various tests ("ShapiroWilk", Kruskal-Wallis H non parametric test, ANOVA analysis) on the basis of key confirmatory factor analysis as well, 4 factor groups were attained. The first group F1 consists of internal ripening process factors and it illustrates 29.4% variance, and at this percentage, it is significant for process optimization. The second group F2 consists of by-products or post-factors incurred after processing, explaining 17.1% variance. The third group F3 are external ripening factors with variance explanation of 15.1%. At the end, the fourth group F4, where there are other factors significant for processing and optimization of ripening process, with 9.2% variance. The research has shown that in 71% of cases, with adequate management and regulation of certain factors an optimization and efficiency of banana ripening process can be influenced, whilst acquiring satisfactory fruit quality and attaining profit. The paper leaves possibilities for further theoretic research and it is of a great significance for companies inside which banana fruit processing are being held in controlled environments.