Conhecimento etnobotânico do umbuzeiro (Spondias tuberosa Arruda) e a elaboração de produto farináceo.

Abstract

One of the most common and promising species of the caatinga is the umbuzeiro (Spondias tuberosa Arruda) which adapts perfectly to prolonged periods of drought, thus serving as an option for food survival for herds. In this sense, this research aimed to carry out a prospective analysis of umbuzeiro, to investigate the local knowledge of regular high school students from public schools in the municipality of Cuité - PB about this key cultural species, as well as to elaborate and determine physical and chemical parameters of a flour product from the leaves of this plant using different drying methods. In the first manuscript, the prospective study of S. tuberosa was carried out by mapping patent filing requests in the databases of the National Institute of Industrial Property, World Intellectual Property Organization and Derwent Innovations Index, from August to October 2018 The extracted data were included in spreadsheets whose descriptors were: the number of filing requests, year, country of filing, types of depositors, the area of application and the International Patent Classification code. The results showed that 11 requests for non-repeated deposits were counted between the years 2010 and 2016, where depositors were, in the majority, Brazilian researchers inserted in the food area, followed by the chemical area and the biotechnology area. These results were categorized into sections (A and C) and into eight classes according to their application (A23B, A23G, A23L, A47J, A61K, A61P, C07C and C07H). In the second manuscript, formal interviews were conducted with the application of a structured questionnaire with open and closed questions, construction of a historical graph and posters, field class and microscopic visualization of cells. A descriptive analysis of the aspects informed by the research participants was carried out following the Discourse Analysis model and the quantitative analyzes were worked through statistical programs from February to November 2019. The students participating in the research knew the umbuzeiro and its constituent parts, cited the fruit for food in the production of umbuzada and juice and for commercialization, stated that this knowledge is of family origin. For them, the animals that most consume the umbuzeiro are the ox and the cow, they shared their opinion about being a sacred plant and did not know whether the umbuzeiro was a medicinal plant. It was noticed that the development of pedagogical activities was an excellent motivation for the effective participation of students, enabling an enriching exchange of knowledge. The third manuscript consisted of a simple technological process capable of optimizing the use of S. tuberosa as forage from the preparation of a flour product using the drying of the umbuzeiro leaves in an oven and in a domestic microwave oven, in August 2020. The results obtained showed that the drying process is feasible and essential for the elimination of water present in leaves, thus guaranteeing a decrease in the deterioration of the material and its conservation. It was possible to notice that the flours produced have a similar efficiency in the drying methods used, however, the flour in FMO showed lower values of water content and water activity, thus limiting the ability of microorganisms to develop for longer.