Comparison of Pineapple Fruit Characteristics of Plants Propagated in Three Different Ways: By Suckers, Micropropagation and Somatic Embryogenesis

Abstract

Pineapples are traditionally propagated by suckers. The advantage of using tissue-cultured plants for pineapple production has been demonstrated in recent years. Despite the large-scale use of micropropagated plants in the subtropical regions, little information is available on the nutritional quality of the fruit. Some morphological states (weight and length of fruit, diameter of fruit and heart of fruit), physico-chemical aspects (pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids and water contents), biochemical contents (vitamin C, total phenols, total dietary fiber, total free amino acid, lipids, protein and minerals) and sensorial attributes (appearance, color, firmness, odor, sweetness, tartness and acceptability) were studied. This, in order to assess nutritional properties and consumer acceptability of fruits (FR) derived from conventionally-propagated sucker, fruits (FM) derived from in vitro propagation plant and fruits (FE) derived from somatic embryogenesis regenerated plants. Significant differences were found in weight, length, diameter, heart diameter and commercial interest of the different fruits, and also between other chemical parameters (pH, soluble solids, titratable acidity, total dietary fiber, total sugars, protein, amino acid, phenol and vitamin C). Values of the ratio between soluble solids and acid were the lowest in the fruit FR, while they were the highest in the fruit FE compare to the fruit FM. In addition, the mineral analyzes show that K, Ca, Mg and P are the major minerals found in pineapple fruits and Al, Fe, Na and Zn are present in trace. A taste panelist preferred the tartness of the fruit FE as well as sweetness and tartness of fruit FM. The quality of the fruits coming from in vitro culture appeared to be the best. Plants resulting from tissue culture can be recommended for large-scale farming.