Characteristics of pulp and oil from Macauba (Acrocomia aculeata) after different post-harvest treatments and storage
Abstract
The Macauba Palm fruits (Acrocomia aculeata) can be a promising source of vegetable oil for food purposes, cosmetics and energy, due to the high productivity and by generate two types of oils. However, the main problem is associated with the rap id deterioration of the fruit and the pulp oil acidification. Thus the preservation of fruit quality requires the development and application of appropriate techniques that must starts in the harvest, go through post -harvest treatment, storage, preparation and ends in the extraction of its oils. The objective of this study was to identify post -harvest treatments using simple and inexpensive techniques that promote the preservation of Macauba fruit and pulp oil during 30 days of storage. The results indicate that in order to maintaining the quality of the fruit and its oil the recommendation is to realize the processing in a shorter time after harvest.
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Introduction
Consumption of vegetable oils has increased in the world and currently its market is determined not only by consumption for food purposes and production of pharmaceuticals and lubricants, as well as for the production of biodiesel (BARBOSA et al., 2008).
Among the enormous diversity of plant species which can be extracted oils, there is the Macauba Palm (Acrocomia aculeate (Jacq. Lodd. ex Mart.)), a palm tree native to the Tropical Americas that produces a oleaginous fruit (Pires et al., 2013; Silva and Caño-Andrade, 2013). Macauba is considered one of the most notable palm trees in Brazil, growing naturally in large populations, both in degraded areas and in intact areas, adapting well in different ecosystems (Motta et al., 2002; Aquino et al. 2008).
The Macauba presents great economic viability, due to its high oil yield and the possibility of the complete use of each part of its fruits: husk, pulp, endocarp and kernel. Depending on the processed part different products and co-products can be generated, such as: oil rich in oleic acid from pulp; oil rich in lauric acid from kernel; biomass rich in protein produced from pulp and kernel cakes for food or feed purposes; activated carbon or vegetable coal produced from endocarp and husk parts (Pires et al., 2013).
Both the composition of the fruit as the oil content in the pulp and kernel parts is quite discrepant, due to not only the fruit origin but also the different degrees of maturity of fruits submitted to analysis. According to the literature, the oil yield from the Macauba fruit may vary from 1500 to 5000 kg of oil per hectare, thus second only to the Elaeis guineensis culture (Manfio et al., 2011; Moura et al., 2010).
The main problem in relation to the application of the crude macauba pulp oil is its high acidity. After complete maturation, the fruits come off the bunch and fall to the ground, suffering contamination by microorganisms, initially in the epicarp and mesocarp parts of the fruit. This contamination causes deterioration and compromises the quality of the fruit and its oils. Studies on techniques for harvesting and post-harvest treatments in order to ensure adequate storage of fruits are required, thus allowing the use of its oil and biomass for unrestricted purposes (Mota et al., 2011).
In this way, the objective of this study was to evaluated post-harvest treatments using simple and inexpensive techniques that promote the preservation of Macauba fruit and its oils considering the storage period of 30 days and that can be used by agriculturalist cooperatives and also for industries. Sanitization techniques including the use of sodium hypochlorite solution and drying was evaluated through the physicochemical characteristics of the pulp and its oil acidity.
Conclusion
The possibility of preservation of the Macauba fruit and its pulp oil during 30 days of storage was evaluated by application of two post -harvest treatments by simple and inexpensive techniques. The behavior of the physic chemical properties of the fruit pulp (moisture, water activity, titratable acidity, oil content ) and of the oil extracted from the pulp(acidity index) were evaluated. The results indicate that although there is a considerable increase in the fruit oil content with the storage time , there is a loss of quality of fruit pulp and its oil measured by th e increase in acidity. Therefore, the posterior industrial application of the raw materials extracted from the fruit should be the parameter that will indicates the need of to process the fruit right after the harvest, in order to ensure high level of qual ity, or to store the fruit for around 30 days, in order to get a greater quantity of oil.