Resumo

RODRIGUES DA SILVA, Leirson; ARAUJO PONTES, Cibele; ALENCAR DE SOUSA, João  e  DE OLIVEIRA SILVA, Ebenézer. Quality of Noni fruits (Morinda citrifolia L.) grown in Trairi-CE. Rev Cubana Plant Med [online]. 2013, vol.18, n.1, pp. 100-108. ISSN 1028-4796.

Introduction: Noni is a fruit brought to Brazil as raw material with strong commercial appeal due to all its beneficial features and consumption-related benefits. Objective: to make the physical and physicochemical characterization of the "mature" noni fruit in the maturation stage (yellowish white coloration). Methods: Noni fruits were harvested on five plants at Alberto Antônio Farm, located near the city of Trairi, Ceará (Trairi-CE). For the fruit characterization, the following analysis were made: fresh fruit mass (g), longitudinal and transverse length (mm), DL/DT, firmness (N), vitamin C (mg.100 g^-1 of pulp), soluble solids (° Brix), titratable acidity (%), pH and SS/AT ratio. A completely randomized approach was adopted, and the treatments consisted of five plants in "mature" stage with ten repetitions, composed by one fruit, for a total of 50 fruits. Results: Noni fruit is ovoid, succulent, and juicy, and presents several triangular red seeds. The pulp's color changed from green to yellowish white according to the ripeness of the fruits. As to the obtained results, the stages showed variability in almost all the physical and physical-chemical characters. Conclusions: "mature" noni fruit presented fresh average weight of 221,50 g, longitudinal and transverse diameter of 106,60 and 59,96 mm, respectively, high values for the DL/DT ratio, with overall average of 1,94; pulp firmness average of 12,82 N, soluble solids content average of 8,40 °Brix, titratable acidity of 0,28 %, pH of 4.53; SS/AT ratio of 34,26 and high levels of vitamin C, with pulp average of 177,33 mg.100 g^-1, which is a feature of great importance for the industry.

Palavras-chave : Morinda citrifolia L.; characterization; attributes; vitamin C.

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