Transmittance spectra in wavelength range of 299–1100 nm
of 95 bananas were acquired using a portable NIR spectrometer
(model AvaSpec-2048, 0.04–20 nm resolution Avantes, USA) connected
to 30 W halogen lamp and sample holder (Fig. 1), similar
to Jha and Garg (2010) with 400 micron single optical fiber and
spectra wiz software (version 3.3). Dark and reference spectra of a
standard supplied with the equipment were acquired at an interval
of ten samples. Banana fruit was placed on sample holder arbitrarily
from girth side in stable position. The probe (sensor) was
fixed in the centre of the base of sample holder and transmittance
spectra were acquired at an interval of 2.25 nm for the wavelength
range of 299–1100 nm. A total of six spectra from three equidistant
points along the length of each stable side of the fruit were
acquired, average values were calculated and stored for analyses.