Pequi fruits, Caryocar brasiliense, collected from the plant are still immature and have lower quality than those collected after naturally falling off

Pequi (C. brasiliense Camb.) is one of the most marketed fruits from the Cerrado bioma and is important to keep peasant families in rural areas, especially in the north of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and has a substantial ecological impact on the country as well. The fruits, which have very high oil, protein, and carotenoid contents (FARIA-MACHADO et al. 2015), are cooked for consumption and serve as ingredients for liqueurs, oils, flours, creams, preserved nut and pulp, syrups, ice creams, sweets, and soaps. Traditionally is regarded as a very rich source of vitamin A, whose deficiency is a public health problem in some areas of Brazil (FERREIRA et al. 2013). The pulp oil is traditionally used as tonic agent in popular medicine due to its natural antioxidants. The fat, fiber and carotenoid composition from Caryocar brasiliense pulp points out this exotic fruit as a potential cardio protective food (TEIXEIRA et al. 2013).Because of its nutritional and functional characteristics, most studies with C. brasiliense are related to the chemical composition and postharvest technologies of conservation and performance (SANTANA et al. 2014; PL?CIDO et al. 2015). Despite some experimental farming, pequi fruits are typically explored through extractivism and are collected from the ground as soon as they ripen and fall off the plant. In case they are not collected immediately after falling off, the fruits become soft and quickly start rotting. When the market price of the fruit is high, or when the supply needs to be increased to middlemen/buyers from other states, the fruit is often picked from the plant, a practice popularly known as ?pequi on the rod.? This practice, besides injuring the plant mainly by breaking its branches and consequently harming future production, risks collecting fruits that have not reached their full development. The content of many chemical components varies with the stage of fruits development. Oliveira et al. (2006) related nutritional and texture aspects of the pulp with the ripening stages and found that fruits picked from the plant have a lower carotenoid content, leading to a fairer colored pulp, which is less desirable by consumers. According to Parra-Coronado (2014), fruits harvested before their full physiological development on the plant may be stored for long periods, but will never reach ideal conditions for consumption. In the north of Minas Gerais state, pequi collection begins in November or December and lasts until February or March, depending on the region, with effectively three months of collection. In face of the seasonality of the fruit?s supply, pequi is commonly frozen for storage so it can be marketed in the inter-harvest period, an increasingly important practice for the product?s economy. An estimated 50% of the pequi production is lost after harvest due to poor classification, transport, and storage (GON?ALVES et al. 2010). Freezing may effectively guarantee marketing in the inter-harvest period and is able to preserve post-harvest quality (GON?ALVES et al. 2010). In the traditional processing, during the harvest season, the fruits are peeled and the putamens (or pyrenes, i.e., pulp or inner mesocarp + seed) are placed in polyethylene bags and freezer-stored for consumption in the inter-harvest period. A few have assessed the changes caused by different freezing methods (temperature and freezing speed) and the freezer-storage period of processed and/or in natura pequi studies (OLIVEIRA et al. 2006; ; GON?ALVES et al. 2010;ALVES et al. 2010; VILAS BOAS et al. 2013). Characterizing the main changes in the pulp at different development stages is essential to defining the time of harvest and post-harvest handling of the fruit. Given that the ripening stage at harvest impacts the post-harvest characteristics of pequi, the present study assessed the components of pequi pulp grown in the north of Minas Gerais state and collected from the plant, collected from the ground immediately after naturally falling off, and collected from the ground three days after naturally falling off, which were stored in a freezer for six months after either quick freezing (liquid nitrogen followed by freezer) or slow freezing (straight into the freezer). For Material and Methods and the complete article, please visit the Source (below) AbstractSoluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA ratio, pH, moisture, soluble sugars (SSU), total reducing sugars (RSU), and non-reducing sugars (NRS) were assessed in the pulp of pequi fruits collected at three ripening stages: from the plant, from the ground after naturally falling off, and collected from the ground three days after naturally falling off. The evaluation was performed after six months of freezer storage both for fruits subjected to quick freezing (liquid nitrogen followed by freezer) and slow freezing (straight into the freezer). The variables assessed were not influenced by the freezing method. The SS, TA, and RSU contents increased with the ripening stage, suggesting that the fruits collected from the plant are still immature and have lower quality than those collected after naturally falling off. Although considered mature when they fall off, fruits consumed three days after naturally falling off have better quality. SourcesPOST-HARVEST QUALITY OF PEQUI (Caryocar brasiliense CAMB.) COLLECTED FROM THE PLANT OR AFTER NATURALLY FALLING OFF AND SUBJECTED TO SLOW AND QUICK FREEZINGMARIA NEUDES SOUSA OLIVEIRA2,?PAULO S?RGIO MASCIMENTO LOPES3, MARIA OL?VIA MERCADANTE-SIM?ES4, EDUARDO GUSM?O PEREIRA5, LEONARDO MONTEIRO RIBEIRO62 Professor. D.Sc., Plant Physiology. Professor of the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences, Department of Agronomy. Federal University of the Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys / UFVJM. Diamantina - MG. CEP 39440-000. Email: mneudes@yahoo.com.br3 Professor. D.Sc., Fruit Culture. Professor of the Institute of Agrarian Sciences. Federal University of Minas Gerais / UFMG. Montes Claros - MG. CEP: 39404-547. Email: psnlopes@ufmg.br4 Professor. D.Sc., Plant Biology. Professor of the Department of General Biology. State University of Montes Claros Unimontes.Montes Claros - MG. CEP: 39401-089. Email: omercadante@hotmail.com5 Professor. D.Sc., Plant Physiology. Professor of the Institute of Biological Sciences and Health. Federal University of Vi?osa / UFV.Florestal - MG. CEP 35690-000. Email: egpereira@ufv.br.6 Professor. D.Sc., Plant Biology. Professor of the Department of General Biology. Unimontes. Montes Claros - MG. CEP: 39401-089.Corresponding author. Email: leomrib@hotmail.com Revista Brasileira de FruticulturaPrint version ISSN 0100-2945On-line version ISSN 1806-9967Rev. Bras. Frutic. vol.39 no.1 Jaboticabal 2017 Epub Mar 30, 2017http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0100-29452017768http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100-29452017000100303&script=sci_arttext Source of the pictureAmigos para siempre