Water Content Of Pulp Research Articles

Irrigation of papaya in a sandy loam soil in the semiarid of Bahia, Brazil

Irrigated farming enables producing papaya in Iacu, located in the semiarid region of Bahia. However, water must be used efficiently, as the local availability of irrigation water resources is restricted. This study was conducted with the objective of defining the irrigation depth that provides the best agronomic performance of the Tainung No. 1 papaya cultivar, in a sandy loam soil of Iacu, in the semiarid of Bahia, under the irrigation management conditions adopted by the producer. The experimental design used was of randomized blocks with four replicates. The experimental plot consisted of a row of plants, containing two border plants and twelve useful plants. Treatments corresponded to the total water depth of 1.103; 1.702; 2226; 2.751; 3.349 mm. Studied variables were height, leaf area, fruit number and yield, water use efficiency, fruit weight, fruit diameter and length, pulp width, pulp water content, pH, soluble solids and titratable acidity. Growth and production of the papaya tree responded positively to the applied water depths, but there was no interference in fruit quality. The yield showed linear adjustment, with a calculated maximum at 123.845 t ha-1 obtained for 3.349 mm. With the increasing water depth applied, there was a reduction in water use efficiency due to percolation water loss.

Characterization of Musa sp. fruits and plantain banana ripening stages according to their physicochemical attributes.

This study aimed at understanding the contribution of the fruit physicochemical parameters to Musa sp. diversity and plantain ripening stages. A discriminant analysis was first performed on a collection of 35 Musa sp. cultivars, organized in six groups based on the consumption mode (dessert or cooking banana) and the genomic constitution. A principal component analysis reinforced by a logistic regression on plantain cultivars was proposed as an analytical approach to describe the plantain ripening stages. The results of the discriminant analysis showed that edible fraction, peel pH, pulp water content, and pulp total phenolics were among the most contributing attributes for the discrimination of the cultivar groups. With mean values ranging from 65.4 to 247.3 mg of gallic acid equivalents/100 g of fresh weight, the pulp total phenolics strongly differed between interspecific and monospecific cultivars within dessert and nonplantain cooking bananas. The results of the logistic regression revealed that the best models according to fitting parameters involved more than one physicochemical attribute. Interestingly, pulp and peel total phenolic contents contributed in the building up of these models.

Influence of water content of the pulp on the extraction and the physicochemical properties of Canarium schweinfurthii oil

AbstractWith the aim of contributing to the valorization of the Canarium schweinfurthii Engl. fruit pulp, through the extraction of its oil, we have studied the influence of the Canarium pulp's water content after drying at 45 °C on the yield of extraction using hexane. Furthermore we studied the physicochemical properties of the oil. It was observed that the oil's extraction yield is significantly influenced (p <0.01) by water content of the pulp. Maximum extraction yield (30.6 g fat/100 g) is obtained at a moisture content of 6.3%. The acid, saponification and peroxide values of the oils obtained were significantly influenced (p <0.05) by the humidity. The maximum acid values of 8.88 corresponded to a moisture content of 17.5%. Likewise, the saponification value showed a maximum of 154.1 for humidity content of 43.3% at the beginning of the drying step. The pulp oil's peroxide value initially at 3.7 meqO2/kg increased progressively until attaining 51.0 O2/kg at the end of drying. The iodine value was not influenced by humidity. A moisture content of 7.7% has been determined as the optimal value for optimizing both oil extraction yield and physicochemical property of the oil obtained.

Characteristics of vertebrate-dispersed fruits in Hong Kong

ABSTRACTHong Kong has a native angiosperm flora of approximately 1800 species, of which 27% (482 spp.) bear fleshy, presumably vertebrate-dispersed fruits, including 76% of the 337 tree and shrub species and 70% of the 103 climber species. Morphological characteristics were determined for 255 species and nutritional characteristics of the fruit pulp for 153 species. Most fruit species were black (45.1%) or red (24.3%) and 85.9% had a mean diameter <13 mm. Nutritional characteristics varied widely between species with ranges and median values as follows: pulp percentage (range 10.0–99.2%, median 69.2%), water content of pulp (11.1–94.0%, 78%), lipid (0–84.0%, 2.0%), soluble carbohydrate (4–88%, 53%), nitrogen (0.2–3.4%, 0.86%), neutral detergent fibre (1–44%, 14.3%). Fruit development time (50–360 d, 156 d) showed a negative correlation with lipid content, but no significant correlation with fruit or seed size. Principal components analysis of fruit characteristics was dominated by a trend from single-seeded fruits with a thin, lipid-rich pulp layer to multiple-seeded fruits with much, watery, carbohydrate-rich pulp. Birddispersed species cover the full range of fruit characteristics except those too large to swallow and too hard to peck bits from. Mammals (bats, civets and/or macaques) are known or suspected to consume most of the fruits too large for birds as well as many bird fruits but none with high-lipid content. Summer fruits (May—September) were significantly larger and had significantly higher seed size and carbohydrate content than winter fruits (November-March). Winter fruits took more than twice as long to develop as summer fruits.

Prunus mahaleb and Birds: The High‐Efficiency Seed Dispersal System of a Temperate Fruiting Tree

Seed dispersal of Prunus mahaleb (Rosaceae), a tree producing large fruit crops, was studied in southeastern Spain to establish the degree of reciprocal dependence between the plant and the birds which disperse it. P. mahaleb drupes contain a relatively large seed (pulp: stone ratio 0.62). The water content of pulp is 82.9% and dry flesh contains 3.2% crude fat and 2.8% crude protein, being largely made up of carbohydrates. Four bird species were the main seed dispersers. Visitation rates, feeding efficiency, and degree of dependence on P. mahaleb fruits for food varied substantially among species. Turdus merula and Sylvia atricapilla showed the highest visitation rates, were behaviorally the most efficient, removed the bulk of seeds and, after feeding, tended to fly preferentially towards the apparently safest sites for growth and survival of saplings. They were also most heavily dependent on P. mahaleb fruits for food, whereas the other disperser species relied largely on insects. Individual plant location and dispersers' habitat preferences produced a differential seeding pattern over the patchy habitat surrounding study trees. The "key" dispersers T. merula and S. atricapilla are specialized frugivores, efficiently dispersing seeds of a plant producing large numbers of extremely low—reward fruits. These results conflict with theoretical expectations and suggest that both the nature of the correlation between bird— and plant—related coevolutionary gradients and their amplitudes, as well as the nature of bird—plant coevolutionary interactions, may differ between tropical and temperate habitats.