Avaliação de características físico-química de frutas convencionais e orgânicas no estado de Alagoas

Abstract

Fruit growing, more specifically citrus growing, plays a fundamental role in the development and increase of GDP in Brazil. For the state of Alagoas, this activity has gained a lot of prominence. More specifically, sustainable citrus farming has been growing in recent years because consumers seek products free of substances harmful to the human body and the environment. Therefore, consumers increasingly seek organic or agroecological products for their consumption, linking to these, better flavor characteristics. In this sense, the objective was to compare the physical and physicochemical characteristics of Pera oranges acquired at different marketing points and submitted to different cultivation systems: organic or conventional. A completely randomized design was adopted, with four fruit acquisition points being evaluated, submitted to two cultivation systems, with five repetitions. The following physical characteristics of the fruits were evaluated: horizontal and vertical diameters and fruit weight, and the physicochemical characteristics were: pH, titratable acidity, oBrix and ripeness index. It was found that the oranges acquired and submitted to the conventional cultivation system presented higher values for all physical characteristics, while the fruits acquired at the organic fair (UFAL), presented the highest values for the physicochemical characteristics, which, in turn, directly influence the choice of fruits by consumers, such as sweetness, represented by °Brix.

Keywords: Consumer acceptance, °Brix, titratable acidity, healthy food.