Qualidade pós-colheita de pitaya vermelha em função do estádio de maturação

Abstract

The diversification of fruit culture through the cultivation of unconventional fruitful is an alternative income to rural producers. Among the cultivated exotic species, there is the red pitaya as one of the option. The pitaya adapts to certain conditions, such as: temperature regions entre 18 and 26 °C, altitude between 0 to 1,850 m over sea level and rainfall between 1,200 and 1,500 mm annually, it prefers sub humid, semi shade, free climates of frost, with well-drained soil. However, the dragon fruit can adapt to different types of climates, since the tropical to up to sub dry. In Brazil, the production of dragon fruit is increasing, mainly in the southeast region, and in the north of Minas Gerais, the cultivation of this cactaceous has been gaining attention due to the environmental conditions that favor the production of dragon fruit. The objective of this study was to determine the point of harvest red dragon fruit produced in the North of Minas Gerais in terms of chemical physical changes during refrigerated storage. The following quality parameters were evaluated: fresh fruit weight, length and diameter at the point of harvest, coloring, firmness, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, total sugars, reducing and non-reducing sugars, pH and starch during storage. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, in factorial scheme 3 x 5 consists of three treatments (maturation stage) and five days after harvest assessments (1, 5, 10, 15 and 20), with four replications and four fruits per experimental unit. The data were subjected to analysis of variance, and when significant, the compare of the effects of the different maturation stages was performed using the Tukey test at 5% of significance, since the study of the effect of the storage period was performed by analyzing regression. In the conditions of the North of Minas Gerais, suggest the harvest in E2 or E3, because the fruits are more color with red bark, other words, more attractive, of better identification of the producer. Furthermore, dragon fruits in these stadiums have higher soluble solids content and faster reduction of the acidity of the pulp during storage compared to fruits harvested in E1.