บทคัดย่องานวิจัย

หมวดหมู่ : ฐานข้อมูลงานวิจัย

Storage improves the quality of Cereus peruvianus fruit

Yaron Sitrit; Efraim Lewinsohn; Rachili Ninio and Yosef Mizrahi

Proceedings of the APEC symposium on postharvest handling systems Bangkok, Thailand September 1-3, 2003. p. 163

2003

บทคัดย่อ

Storage improves the quality of Cereus peruvianus fruit Cereus peruvianus (L.) Miller is a large thorny columnar cactus that bears edible delightful fruits. The cactus has been recently introduced to cultivation in Israel and is grown commercially. At full maturity, the fruits tend to crack due to uncoordinated growth of fruit tissues. This phenomenon normally causes heavy losses as high as 90% of the total crop value. To prevent cracking, the fruits are usually harvested at the violet stage, before they reach full ripening, and allowed to ripen in storage. Unexpectedly, stored fruit were of better quality than tree ripened fruit. However, if harvested too early, the fruits do not ripe well under storage and have poor quality. In order to establish optimal harvesting protocols and storage conditions, we characterized fruit ripening o­n tree and under storage.

Organoleptic tests indicated that the overall taste increased concomitantly with the development of the red peel color. During ripening the pH slightly increased, while titratable acidity and the content of malic acid decreased. These changes were more marked in stored fruits than in tree-ripened fruits. The levels of polysaccharides, glucose and fructose did not change significantly during storage. The content of linalool and linalool derivatives increased during storage, being much higher than that of cracked tree-ripened fruits. Our results indicated that the overall quality of the fruits increased during storage as expressed by color change, decreased acidity, and enhanced levels of aroma compounds, while the content of carbohydrates was practically unaffected.