Procedência, Qualidade e Perdas Pós-Colheita de Frutos Tropicais no mercado atacadista da Empresa de Abastecimento e Serviços Agrícolas de Campina Grande – PB

Abstract

This work had as objective to evaluate the origin, quality, and postharvest losses of tropical fruits at the wholesale market of the Empresa de Abastecimento e Serviços Agrícolas de Campina Grande (Empasa-CG), Paraíba state, Brazil. The work was developed in four experiments: ‘Perola’ pineapple (Chapter II), ‘Pacovan’ banana (Chapter III), ‘Hawaii’ papaya (Chapter IV), and ‘Espada’ mango (Chapter V). For each experiment, each fruit was weekly sampled at the specific day of entrance at the Empasa-CG. Fruits were weekly sampled, being the collection divided in two steps: in the first, from the total of vehicles received in the Empasa-CG with fruits was registered the origin and the weight of the load. Following, it was randomly selected three groups of three vehicles, from which were randomly collected three physiologically mature fruits (triplicates of 9 fruits, 27 in the total) for characterization of fruits able for marketing; in the second sampling, at the end of the daily period of commercialization, the total of discarded fruits were weighted and classified as the types of losses. Following, it was sampled triplicates of 9 fruits (27 in the total) for characterization of losses. Each weekly sampling represented a replication of the monthly evaluation (Four replications/months). The percentage of losses was calculated taking as base the volume of product entrance and the volume discarded obtained from wholesalers. Fungi were isolated and identified at the Laboratório de Fitopatologia of the CCA/UFPB. From the total ‘Perola’ pineapple losses, 82% represented mechanical damages and 18% were caused by microrganisms. The Fusarium subglutinans f.sp.ananas was responsable for the highest levels of phytopathogens losses. For ‘Pacovan’ banana, losses by consignment (Type II) were higher than unloading losses (Type I). For ‘Hawaii’ papaya, 40% were caused by phytopathogens, whereas losses for mechanical damages were 60%. From the total of ‘Espada’ mango received for commercialization at the Empasa-CG, 11% were discarded due to mechanical damages, from which 50% corresponded to crushing, 37% to wounding, and 13% to broken or cracked fruits.