DESARROLLO DE LA PITAHAYA (Cereus SP.) EN ECUADOR

Abstract

The pitahaya (Cereus sp.) is an exotic tropical fruit, widely distributed in America and even present in the Asian continent. In Ecuador is located in the provinces of Pichincha, Morona Santiago and Loja. It is a climbing shrub whose fruit is a berry with a taste appeal. It is known that this plant has been used as a living fence or ornamental form by their morphological characteristics, however the nutritional characteristics have taken more prominence in the last decade because has been found that the fruit shows the property of being a complete nutritional food. The most important characteristic is its high content in bioflavonoids and concentration of fatty acid plus fiber, minerals and vitamins showing adjuvant effects on cardiac and gastrointestinal problems. Unfortunately few studies about the benefits of this fruit have been carried out in the country. In fact, the lack of research study by national researchers is due to the commercial competition with other fruits apparently more interesting such as banana, tree tomato and cacao.