Abstract
Ximenia americana popularly known as wild plum grow wildly in Brazilian semiarid region and its fruit were harvested in two maturity stages and evaluated for quality. The experimental design was completely randomized with three treatments (immature, mature pulp and seeds), and treatment effect was evaluated for pulp fraction (composed of both mesocarp and exocarp or peel) in maturation stages: immature (largest size with green colored peel), mature (largest size with yellow colored peel) and seeds of mature fruits, from eight repetitions of 25 fruits each, totaling 200 fruits per treatment. Fruit were separated and evaluated for physical and physicochemical variables, mineral composition, bioactive compounds content and total antioxidant activity (TAA). The X. americana grown in Brazilian semiarid region presents a great potential to further commercial exploitation. The pulp, aside its maturation stage contains high levels of lipids, proteins, sugars, starch, titratable acidity, vitamin C, yellow flavonoids, polyphenols and antioxidant activity. The seed also presents high levels of lipid, protein, starch, total extractable polyphenols and antioxidant activity. Imature pulp stands out for acidity, polyphenol, flavonoid and anthcyanin levels, while mature fruit pulp has higher yield, sugar and vitamin C levels. Seeds have higher starch, protein and lipi levels. The antioxidant activity found for wild plum pulp could be attributed to polyphenol and vitamin C contents; meanwhile, the antioxidant activity of seeds was dependent only on polyphenolic content. Pulp had higher Na, K, Mg, Ca and Fe levels, however, both seed and pulp fractions have substantial contents of P, K, Cu and Mn. Key words: Development, bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity, minerals, quality.
Highlights
A significant part of Brazil‟s large biodiversity is in the Northeastern semiarid region known as Caatinga, an ecosystem unique to this country
Ximenia americana popularly known as wild plum grow wildly in Brazilian semiarid region and its fruit were harvested in two maturity stages and evaluated for quality
The experimental design was completely randomized with three treatments, and treatment effect was evaluated for pulp fraction in maturation stages: immature, mature and seeds of mature fruits, from eight repetitions of 25 fruits each, totaling 200 fruits per treatment
Summary
A significant part of Brazil‟s large biodiversity is in the Northeastern semiarid region known as Caatinga, an ecosystem unique to this country. Tropical fruits may present unique sensorial characteristics and high concetrations of nutrients (Souza et al, 2012) especially when it comes to wild or native species (Genovese et al, 2008). These are outstanding sources of antioxidant compounds, which are associated with anti-aging and health promoting properties due to their potential to lower or inhibit oxidative stress (Hassimoto et al, 2005). These antioxidants differ in nature as minerals, dietary fibers, phytochemicals as phenolics and vitamin C and pigments as carotenoids and chlorophyll, which overall are more abundant in immature fruit
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