Rapid prediction of banana fruit maturation using a glucose biosensor

Abstract

The feasibility of using a glucose biosensor to determine the glucose content of banana sugar extracts was investigated. Glucose concentration is a useful indicator of the maturity and potential storage life of the fruit. The method was compared with standard manual enzymatic analysis using a commercial test kit and chromatographic analysis using HPLC. A good correlation was obtained between the enzymatic test kit and the biosensor results (r= 0.992). However, the relationship between the enzymatic test kit and HPLC results was not linear and this was particularly noticeable at higher glucose concentrations. Rapid and accurate measurements were made using the biosensor without employing the sample clean-up necessary for the other methods. It is concluded that the use of the biosensor technique for the determination of glucose in banana fruit samples offers distinct advantages over conventional methods.