Caracterização biométrica e química do mamão ‘Solo’ (Carica papaya L.) de diferentes feiras do município de São Luís-MA

Abstract

Papaya (Carica papaya L.), is among the top seven fruits on the Brazilian export list. The main papaya producing States are: Espírito Santo, Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará. In Maranhão, the municipality of Dom Pedro is the main producer. In the basket of papayas destined for the domestic market, in most cases, little technology is adopted both in production and in post-harvest. In informal marketing places, such as fairs, defects are usually found in the fruit. Thus, the objective of this work was to carry out the chemical, physical and biometric analysis of papaya fruits belonging to the Solo group, obtained in three different fairs in São Luís-MA with different development indices. The work was carried out in the municipality of São Luís-MA, located at a latitude of 2o31'51''S and longitude of 44o18'24"W. The fruits were collected in Cidade Operária (T1), Cohatrac (T2) and Mauro Fecury II (T3) neighborhoods, with fifteen (15) fruits per plot. A questionnaire was applied to sellers in order to assess their knowledge about the origin of the product, storage, transport of fruits, exposure time at the stand and technical knowledge of management. The experimental design used was completely randomized (D.I.C). Statistical analysis for comparison of means was performed using Tukey's test at 5% probability. For the analysis, the statistical program AgroStat was used. It was observed that the fruits sold come from Ceará, Bahia, Dom Pedro - MA and there is also production by the marketer. The fruit disposal period occurs every day of the week and the main losses are due to crushing, punctures and scratches. In the chemical analysis, treatment T1 showed higher acidity. Although no difference was observed between the Total Titratable Acidity (ATT) of fairs T2 and T3, in the chemical ratio a difference was found. The T3 fair had the highest value, with 71.17 and the T1 and T2 fairs did not differ from each other. This result shows that the fruits of the T3 fair are sweeter when compared to those of the T1 and T2 fairs. The fruits of the Mauro Fecury II fair have higher values than the Cidade Operária and Cohatrac fairs in terms of biometric analysis. In addition, in the chemical analysis, the fruits from the Mauro Fecury II fair were superior to those from the Cidade Operária and Cohatrac fairs, this was due to their greater sweetness and lower acidity. It was observed that the income item does not influence the quality of these fruits. Since the fruits with the best characteristics were observed in a neighborhood with lower development than the others studied in this work. All the fruits of the fairs were following the parameters established by the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA). The stallholders showed little knowledge of management, marketing and production. This lack of knowledge makes it difficult to better manage your business and reduce losses.