Changes in Color and Bioactive Components During Maturation of Cactus Pear Fruits From Curimataú Micro Region, Paraiba State, Brazil

QUALITY, ANTIOXIDANT AND ENZYMATIC ACTIVITIES OF FACHEIRO (Pilosocereus pachycladus RITTER) FRUITS DURING MATURATION

“…The ascorbic acid (AA) content differed only between the pulp and pericarp of G, IP, and R fruit, with 4.10; 4.35, and 3.84 mg.100 g -1 in the pulp, and 4.84; 4.61, and 4.92 mg.100 g -1 in the pericarp, respectively, indicating that a higher AA content is present in the outermost portions of the fruit (Table 4). However, the levels of AA in facheiro fruit were found to be low (Table 4), and considerably lower than those reported by Torres et al (2009) for fruit of Opuntia fícus-indica (AA of 9.5 mg.100 g -1 in the mesocarp and 34.5 mg.100 g -1 in the pulp), and by Silva et al (2009), in fruit of Opuntia inamoena (with 44.18 mg.100 g -1 ) at the end of maturation). The fruit of Tacinga inamoena (K. Schum) had an AA content of 42.01 mg.100 g -1 (DANTAS et al, 2015a).…”

“…In the Northeastern Brazil Cactaceae have been widely used in animal feed during periods of drought and, more restrictively, in human feeding in localized populations (SOUZA et al,2015). Studies have increased the knowledge of introduced Cactaceae fruit, such as Opuntia fícus-indica (SILVA et al, 2009;TORRES et al, 2009;SOUZA et al, 2015), and native fruits, such as Tacinga inamoena (DANTAS et al, 2015a;DANTAS et al, 2015c;DANTAS et al, 2016), Cereus jamacaru (MELO et al, 2017), Pilosocereus gounellei (SILVA et al, 2018;ABUD et al, 2012). However, there are some fruit species which are still underutilized due to the scarcity of nutritional and functional information (SILVA et al, 2009;DANTAS et al, 2015a), including the facheiro (Pilosocereus pachycladus Ritter) fruits (SOUZA et al, 2015).…”