Estádio de maturação na qualidade pós-colheita do Umbu-Cajá (Spondias sp.)

Abstract

Umbu-cajá is a fruit that has high quality for both fresh consumption and industrial processing. The lack of knowledge on this fruit ripening and proper harvest can cause postharvest losses. Therefore, knowing the different stages of development of this fruit is important so that the harvest is carried out at the right time, ensuring the quality of the fruit. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical quality of umbu-cajá fruits in five stages of maturation. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, with 5 maturation stages (E-1, E-2, E-3, E-4 and E-5) in which each treatment was formed by 15 repetitions. Features of the fruits related to pulp yield, fresh mass, length, diameter, thickness, firmness, peel color, moisture, ashes, pH, H+ ions, soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), respiratory rate, ratio (maturation index), soluble sugars contents, reducers and non-reducers, ascorbic acid, total chlorophyll, carotenoids, flavonoids, anthocyanins and phenolic compounds were evaluated. After data collection and analysis, it was found an important difference in all the studied features due to the different fruit ripening stages. Hence, it was verified a drop in the levels of total acidity, chlorophylls, ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds in the transition between stage (1) and (5). However, there was an increase in the values of soluble solids, soluble sugars, reducers and non-reducers in the passage from stage (1) to (5). Regarding respiratory rate, there was an increase in its value according to fruit ripening. The maturation stage (3) is the most suitable to harvest umbu-cajá fruits, considering the characteristics of fresh mass, peel color, soluble solids, titratable acidity and sugar levels to differentiate each maturation stage. This fruit can also be classified as climacteric because it presents an increase in the respiration rate from stage (1) to (5), and in this case the harvest can be done before the plant ripens.