Influence of harvesting time on oil content, dry matter, and fatty acid composition of different avocado cultivars

Z. Alnasan, O.K. Yamanishi, A. Alnasan, M.C. Pires
Oil content, dry matter, fatty acid composition and fruit weight of three Brazilian avocado (Persea americana, Mill) cultivars: ‘Hass’, ‘Quintal’ and ‘Fortuna’ were examined during three harvesting time: mid-June, July and August 2015. Avocado fruits were harvested according to Tsuge Farm picking standard, in São Gotardo city, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Samples were kept under ambient conditions to ripen. Oil content (fresh weight basis) of ‘Hass’, ‘Quintal’ and ‘Fortuna’ increased significantly (P<0.05), from 22.4 to 25.6%, from 16.3 to 19.8% and from 9.8 to 13.3%, respectively. However, while fruits remained on tree, minimum percentages were recorded in mid-June and maximum percentages were recorded in mid-August. Significant differences in oil content among cultivars were observed at the same harvesting time. The highest percentage of oil was observed in ‘Hass’, while the lowest percentage was noticed in ‘Fortuna’. Moreover, significant differences were observed in dry matter among the three cultivars. ‘Hass’ had significantly higher dry matter (32.9-34.1%) than the other cultivars, while ‘Fortuna’ (20.2-23.2%) had the lowest. The average fruit weight was significantly influenced by the cultivar type. The highest average fruit weight observed for ‘Quintal’ (720-1091.7 g) followed by ‘Fortuna’ (816.7-1075 g) while the lowest was for ‘Hass’ (218.3-338.3 g). Moreover, in all cultivars the fatty acid contents were, oleic (54.01/65.9/64.22%), palmitic (21.18/17.96/19.09%), linoleic (11.98/11.45/ 13.96%) and palmitoleic (12.83/4.69/1.77%) acids, and were the major fatty acids found in ‘Hass’, ‘Quintal’ and ‘Fortuna’, respectively. The saturated fatty acid (c) of ‘Hass’, ‘Quintal’ and ‘Fortuna’ increased significantly, from 21.18 to 22.05%, from 17.96 to 21.84% and from 19.09 to 21.84% during three harvesting time, respectively. There was very little variation in the content of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) of the pulp oils between the cultivars, while the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) decreased in general.
Alnasan, Z., Yamanishi, O.K., Alnasan, A. and Pires, M.C. (2020). Influence of harvesting time on oil content, dry matter, and fatty acid composition of different avocado cultivars. Acta Hortic. 1299, 347-354
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1299.52
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1299.52
'Hass', 'Quintal', 'Fortuna', Brazil
English

Acta Horticulturae