Physicochemical characteristics of blackberry (Rubus glaucus Benth.) fruits from four production zones of Cundinamarca, Colombia

Abstract

Blackberries play an important role in human nutrition, due to the elevated content of certain bioactive compounds including ascorbate, anthocyanins, phenolic acids, carbohydrates, and proteins. Blackberry Rubus glaucus from Colombian Andes has a high demand on regional and international markets and there is much interest in its cultivation to increase the com mercial offer. In four blackberry producing municipalities of Cundinamarca province, fruits were harvested for different quality tests based on the availability of hydric resources in the zone and their influence on fruit characteristics according to the precipitation of each zone, since the crops did not have an irrigation system. The variables, such as size, fresh weight, tex ture, pH, titratable total acids (TTA), total soluble solids (TSS), and color were evaluated to compare the quality of the fruits between the municipalities, finding that fruits from Silvania had the greater size but, in turn, were the least consistent. El Colegio zone presented the sweetest fruits and together with Pasca had the highest acidity percentage. The color of Pasca and Silvania fruits was the most attractive for commercialization parameters. These parameters, even when management and agro-climatic conditions between municipalities were very similar, allows knowing the positive attributes and determine the factors that need to be improved and to project on a short-term future productions acceptable on the international market.

Combined modified atmosphere packaging and guar gum edible coatings to preserve blackberry (Rubus glaucus Benth)

“…The GG coatings coupled with the PET-only and the PLA-film packages does not seem to affect the change in soluble solids content of the samples stored at 5 ℃. These values also agree with those reported by Vergara et al. (2016) for fruits of various ripening stages.…”

“…TSS appears to remain approximately constant or at most had a slight increase over time for all treatments although no differences were observed on the measurement days with values between 6.6 and 8.8% as shown in Table 2 (top). Similar results are reported by Horvitz et al (2017), where the TSSs are kept at constant values during the storage time (nine days) at 8 C. The GG coatings coupled with the PET-only and the PLA-film packages does not seem to affect the change in soluble solids content of the samples stored at 5 C. These values also agree with those reported by Vergara et al (2016) for fruits of various ripening stages. As the ripening and processes of substrate degradation take place, the amount of dissolved sugars increases in the cell sap, although many of these are consumed in the fruit respiration, so that their quantity can be balanced in constant values or at most there may be a slight increase.…”

“…Castilla fruits were collected from a local producer in the municipality of San Antonio de Tequendama, Department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. The samples were harvested in the ripening stage 5 of 7, according to the Colombian technical standard NTC 4106 (Icontec – Colombian Institute of Technical Standards and Certification, 1997; Vergara et al., 2016). After the harvest, the fruits were transported to the Post-harvest Laboratory of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, where they were selected by removing all those with evidence of mechanical damage or caused by microorganisms.…”

“…Blackberry is a fruit that has multiple valuable compounds such as anthocyanins and polyphenolic compounds that make it a highly desirable fresh produce for the healthy consumer (Chaves et al, 2020;Gowd et al, 2019;Pe´rez-Grijalva et al, 2018). To preserve these compounds as long as possible and keep the overall quality of this product it is necessary to develop and implement innovative storage and packaging methods considering its limited shelf life, 3-8 days at 5-8 C (Horvitz et al, 2017;Van de Velde et al, 2020;Vergara et al, 2016). In Colombia, blackberry production has become of great importance for the agricultural sector due to its sustained annual growth in recent years (approx.…”

Diferenciación morfológica, fenológica y pomológica de cultivares comerciales de mora (Rubus glaucus Benth)

“…Acidez titulable (%): el cultivar con el valor promedio más alto fue Castilla (2.36 %) (tabla 3), valor que es adecuado de acuerdo al rango (2.3 % a 2.9 %) que es solicitado por la agroindustria. Además, el resultado obtenido en este estudio fue ligeramente menor al reportado por Iza et al (2016) en frutos cosechados en Carchi (Ecuador) con un valor de 2.47 %; y menor al encontrado por Rincón et al (2015) y Vergara et al (2016) en frutos obtenidos en Gachantivá y Cundinamerca (Colombia) y por Horvitz et al (2017) en frutos de Tungurahua, todos con 2.8 %. Por otro lado, estos resultados fueron similares a los reportados por Chalampuente (2016) para materiales de las especies R. glaucus (2,47 a 2.57 %).…”