Fruit quality of jabuticaba progenies cultivated in a tropical climate of altitude

Abstract

Introduction. The jabuticaba tree (Myrciaria jabuticaba) belongs to the Myrtaceae family and produces a small fruit, native to central, southern and southeastern Brazil. Materials and methods. Fruits of 25 progenies of the jabuticaba tree, grown in a tropical highland cli- mate, were evaluated as to physical, physicochemical and chemical characteristics: weight, lon- gitudinal and transverse diameters, pulp and peel yields, seed mass, number of seeds per fruit, pulp and peel moisture, soluble solids, titratable acidity, (soluble solids/titratable acidity) ratio, pH, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds. The experimental design was completely rando- mized, the treatments being the 25 jabuticaba tree progenies. Results. A significant effect among progenies was observed for all characteristics evaluated. The chemical composition showed that the jabuticaba peel has a high phenolic compound content, and considerable fla- vonoid content. These results indicate that there is variability for the characteristics analyzed, enabling the economic exploitation of jabuticaba tree fruits for in natura consumption and pro- cessing. Conclusions. The physical and chemical characteristics combined can be proposed as excellent tools to select superior progenies. The fruits of five progenies showed desirable cha- racteristics for the in natura market, while fruits of five other progenies hold high concentra- tions of natural antioxidants and may be listed as excellent options for the food industry.