Características físicas e químicas de diferentes acessos de umbu (Spondias tuberosa, Arr. Cam.) coletados no Curimataú Oriental Paraibano

Abstract

Umbuzeiro (Spondias tuberosa Arr.) is a tropical fruit tree native to the Brazilian Northeast, which stands out for presenting great market prospects, especially in the form of fruit pulp, juices and ice cream. Umbu is widely known for its pleasant sensorial characteristics, such as juiciness and sweet and sour taste. The fruits are also a source of bioactive compounds and their consumption can contribute substantially to the human diet, ensuring food security in rural communities. Despite all its application potential, even recognizing the richness in nutrients and possibilities of use and application of these fruits as a source of income, their characteristics have not yet been fully elucidated. In addition, there is great genetic variability, which culminates in variations in the size, shape and physicochemical characteristics of its fruits. In this sense, this study aimed to characterize the fruits of different accessions of umbuzeiro (Spondias tuberosa, Arr. Cam) collected in Curimataú Oriental Paraíba through physical and chemical parameters. Despite the existence of more umbu trees in the studied region, it was only possible to use in this study seven accessions of umbu trees (U4, U6, U13, U24, U15, U16 and U19), since the others did not produce fruits due to the long dry period. The studied accessions were evaluated for height, stem diameter, crown diameter and physical parameters by determining the longitudinal diameter (DL) and equatorial diameter (DE), firmness and pulp yield, chemical characteristics, and total soluble solids, pH, total titratable acidity, reducing and non-reducing sugars and total sugars, phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid, pigments such as chlorophyll and total carotenoids, moisture content and total solids. In terms of results, among the seven accessions of umbu trees studied, accessions U4 and U13 stood out for having the most desirable attributes, such as higher levels of soluble solids, reducing and non-reducing sugars and total sugars, in addition to vitamin C and total solids. Accession U13 stood out for presenting higher levels of titratable acidity (1.93%). It was also identified that the accessions did not present a significant difference (p > 0.05) regarding the profile of total phenolic compounds. From the analysis of principal components (PCA) it was possible to discriminate the differences and similarities between the studied umbuzeiro accessions, being identified the formation of 4 groups of accessions regarding their similarity in function of the composition of the physical and chemical parameters of the fruits.