Chemical composition of banana peel

Banana is a herbaceous plant of the family Musaceae. It is known to have originated from the tropical region of Southern Asia.

The fruit grows in hanging clusters, with 20 fruits to a tie and 3-20 tie to a bunch. The fruit is protected by its peel which is discarded as waste after the inner fleshy portion is eaten. Banana peel accounts about 40% of overall weight of the fresh fruit. Banana peels have different medical advantages to amazing dietary status, and it treats the intestinal sore, looseness of the bowels, diarrhea, ulcerative colitis, nephritis, gout, heart infection, hypertension and diabetes.

This resulted in 200 tons of waste from banana peels generated each day and this amount tends to increase annually. The banana peels waste is normally disposed in municipal landfills, which contribute to the existing environmental problems.

Moisture content of the peel to be 6.7%. The value is relatively low, and may perhaps be due to the time of harvest. The low value also designate that the peel can be amass for a long time without growing moldy. The ash content was found to 8.50%.

The organic matter content was found to be 91.50%. Organic matter measures the nutritional value (lipids, proteins and carbohydrate) of a plant material. The high value indicates that banana peels are good sources of nutrients. On the average, banana peels contain 6-9% dry matter of protein and 20- 30% fiber (measured as NDF). Green plantain peels contain 40% starch that is transformed into sugars after ripening.

The high dietary fiber content of banana peel (about 50 g/ 100 g) is indicative of a good source of dietary fiber.

Banana peel is rich in phytochemical compounds mainly antioxidants. The total amount of phenolic compounds in banana peel has been represented for from 0.90 to 3.0 g/100 g dry weight.

It also contains antioxidant compounds including polyphenols, catecholamins and carotenoids. Dietary polyphenols, with the aid of its wonderful antioxidant properties that cross beyond the adjustment of oxidative stress, play a critical function in the prevention of degenerative diseases especially, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

The antifungal, antibiotic properties of banana peel can put to be good use. The peel is used for home remedy for treating several skin problems including allergies and skin irritations.

Banana peels are used as feedstock as they have some nutritional values. Banana peels are widely used for that purpose on small farms in regions where bananas are grown. There are some concerns over the impact of tannins contained in the peels on animals that consume them.

In recent times, banana peel has been utilized for various industrial applications including bio-fuel production, bio-sorbents, pulp and paper, cosmetics, energy related activities, organic fertilizer, environmental clean-up and biotechnology related processes.
Chemical composition of banana peel

The uses of banana peel

Banana peel is an energy-rich carbohydrate substrate for single-cell protein production for food and feed.

In traditional medicine, banana peels have been reported to be useful against cancer and heart disease since these peels are rich in gallocatechin, and important antioxidant involved in the prevention of these diseases.

The banana peel, which is the waste from banana processing, is also term as banana waste. These wastes can be utilized for the production of ligninolytic enzymes.

Banana skin has been used as a support-substrate for the production of extracellular laccase by the white-rot fungus Trametes pubescens.

It was reported that alcohol can be produced from banana peels by subjecting the material to saccharification treatment using either sulfuric acid, steam under pressure or cellulase. The fermentation was carried out with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus.

For certain people, banana peel can be eaten, usually grated fried and mixed with black eyed peas.

The green banana peel contains about 50-100 ug/g fresh weight of chlorophyll, 5-7 ug/g fresh weight of xanthophyll and 1,5-3.5 ug/g fresh weight of carotene.

Banana peels also known for their antifungal and antibiotic propertied as well as being loaded with vitamin and minerals.

During ripening, chlorophylls lost, and total yellow pigment remains approximately constant.

Chlorophylls activity in banana peels increases sharply at the onset of the climacteric rises to a peak which coincides with the climacteric peak, and then falls to near zero in the post climacteric period.
The uses of banana peel