Characterization of the Chemical Composition of the Volatile Aroma Compounds of Egyptian Banana Belonging to the "Maghrabi" Cultivar by GC-MS

Banana is a favorite fruit for many people due to its distinctive taste and aroma. In the current investigation, the volatile aroma compounds of the Egyptian banana belonging to the "Maghrabi" cultivar were characterized, for the first time, using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Results indicate that 33 volatile compounds were identified, which represent 95.09% of the total eluted compounds from the GC column. Esters (21 compounds) were the major chemical group, representing 77.25% of the total identified volatiles, with isoamyl acetate being the most abundant ester (23.9%). Other volatile compounds belonging to different chemical groups, like alcohols (4.19%), ketones (3.2%), aldehydes (2.3%), and terpenes (6.75%), were also identified. The manuscript discusses the qualitative and quantitative differences between the aroma volatile compounds of the Egyptian "Maghrabi" cultivar and those from different banana plantation regions and genotypes.