CHEMICAL COMPOSITON OF IMMATURE STEMS OF Acanthocereus spp. AND Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton & Rose

Abstract

Immature stems of “cruceta or jacube” (Acanthocereus tetragonus), “nopal de cruz” (A. subinermis) and pitahaya (Hylocereus undatus) are soft, and they are used in the Mexican gastronomy. However, there is little information about their nutritional value. The objective of this work was to analyze their proximal and mineral composition in immature stems. The plant material was obtained from a plantation located in Tepoztlán, state of Morelos, México. The results were reported on dry matter basis (g/100 g of dry matter). The proximal analysis showed that compared to published values of edible young cladodes of Opuntia spp., stems presented higher (P ≤ 0.05) content of crude protein (11.08 to 24.49 g) and crude fiber (7.86 to 14.79 g), but lower contents (P ≤ 0.05) of ashes (10.80 to 14.90 g) and ether extract (0.64 to 1.46 g). As for minerals, the stems presented higher (P ≤ 0.05) contents of P (0.19 to 0.37 %), K (2.19 to 4.52 %), Mg (0.55 to 0.66 %), Na (0.07 to 0.89 %) and Zn (8.56 to 32.15 mg kg^-1); Acanthocereus stood out for its high (P ≤ 0.05) Ca content (1.51 to 2.16 %) and H. undatus for its high K (4.82 mg kg^-1) and Zn (34.02 mg kg^-1) content.