The chemical characterization of Jerivá (Syagrus romanzoffiana Cham.) fruit pulp

Abstract

Ingesting fruits and vegetables is increasingly recommended due to the presence of carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, carotenoids and phenols in them. Therefore, there was increase in the economic exploitation of several productive plant species. However, some species that may be macro and micronutrient sources are still little consumed and studied. Among these species, there is a palm tree known as jerivá (Syagrus romanzoffiana Cham.), which is widely distributed in Brazil and highly fruit productive. It shows globular yellow to orange-red color, fibro-fleshy and mucilaginous mesocarp. The current study aims to characterize chemically the jerivá pulp fruit its levels of sugars, Vitamin C, phenolic acids, tocopherols and carotenoids by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The Vitamin C content (6.80 mg/100 g) was lower that that foutd it fruits cotsidered to be a source of or rich it this tutriett. β-carotene is the major carotenoid in jerivá fruit pulp, and it represents 70% of total carotenoids. Among the other bioactive substances, it is worth highlighting the phenolic acids levels, especially the p-hydroxybetzoic (83.84 mg/g), atd α-tocopherol (18.80 mg/g) acids. These acids levels were higher than those found in vegetable matrices reported in the literature. It was observed few scientific studies emphasizing the quantification of phenolic acids and tocopherols in fruits and vegetables. The chemical characterization of jerivá fruit pulp ethatces the knowledge about the fruit's tutritiotal atd futctiotal properties and allows further exploiting the productive species of jerivá fruits and their consumption.