FRUIT CHARACTERIZATION OF MEXICAN PLUM (Spondias purpurea) FROM SOUTHERN MÉXICO

Abstract

Sixty seven Mexican plum (Spondias purpurea L.) accessions native to states of Guerrero, Morelos and Chiapas were evaluated regarding fruit mass, dimensions, color components (L*, C* y H*), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and the TSS/TA ratio. The highest coefficient of variation (50-60 %) was observed in fruit mass, hue angle (H*) and the TSS/TA ratio, which contributed to the formation of seven groups. Fruit mass varied from 4.0 to 43.2 g, fruit color from red (H* = 15), to green (H* = 105), whereas the TSS/TA ratio ranged from 3.0 to 63.2, due to the variation in TSS (from 3.2 to 17.3 ºBrix) and TA (from 0.2 to 2.0 %). These results show the high variabilityamong accessions, some of them having potential for horticultural use.