The objective of the present work was to identify the variability in the chemical constituents of jenipapo fruit with economic potential for the Recôncavo Baiano Region. One-hundred jenipapo fruit trees, distributed in six counties of the Recôncavo Baiano Region region, were identified and 10 fruit per plant were collected for the chemical analyses. The variables studied were: pH, soluble solids (SS), ascorbic acid content (AA), titrable acidity (TEA), soluble solids and titrable acidity ratio (SS/TEA), reducing sugars (RS), non-reducing sugars (NRS) and total sugars (TS). Descriptive analysis and the Pearson correlation coefficient were used in order to interpret the data. The fruit analysis in the 2004/2005 harvest period presented average values equal to 3.44 and 3.39 for pH; 1.40 and 1.42 for TEA; 17.18 ºBrix and 16.81 ºBrix for SS; 2.76 mg 100g-1 and 2.65 mg 100g-1 for ascorbic acid; 9.26% and 8.95% for RG; 3.39% and 3.31% for NRG; 12.61% and 12.28% for TG; 12.37 and 12.00 for SS/TEA. The results concluded that there is variability for the characteristics analyzed, enabling the economic exploration of the fruits for in natura consumption as well as industrialization, and the genotypes JP 12, JP 39, JP 41, JP 59, JP 73, JP 79, JP 80, JP 83, JP 89, JP 90, and JP 99, can be recommended to the agro-ecological conditions of the Recôncavo Baiano region.
Genipa americana L.; quality; characterization genetic; chemical composition
