Chemical composition of five loquat cultivars planted in Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Hasegawa,Patrícia Nagai
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Faria,Adelia Ferreira de, Mercadante,Adriana Zerlotti, Chagas,Edvan Alves, Pio,Rafael, Lajolo,Franco Maria, Cordenunsi,Beatriz Rosana, Purgatto,Eduardo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Food Science and Technology (Campinas)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-20612010000200040
• topic: ripening; Eriobotrya japonica; genetic breeding; β-carotene

Loquat is a fruit with high market value cultivated in Southeast Brazil. Despite of this, there are little details about its quality characteristics. Fruits from five loquat cultivars, developed using genetic breeding, were analyzed to assess their compositional traits. The cultivars Centenária, Mizuho, Mizumo, Néctar de Cristal and Mizauto were selected based on their high productivity and resistance to diseases. Soluble sugars, organic acids, and carotenoids were quantified using liquid chromatography. The cultivar (cv.) with the highest total sugar concentration was Mizumo and the lowest concentration was found in Centenária. The main sugar detected was sucrose, and the malic acid was the major organic acid. Ascorbic acid was detected in small amounts. The total dietary fiber contents were almost the same in all cultivars. The major carotenoids detected were β-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin, except for the cultivar Nectar de Cristal, a white pulp loquat. These results contribute to the knowledge about de physiology of loquat fruit, an interesting raw material due to its nutritional and sensorial characteristics. Furthermore, the results obtained could help to identify the most appropriate use of the loquats with different attributes either for consumption in natura or for industrial processing.