Nutritional quality and technological potential of pitaya species

Abstract

The species Hylocereus costaricensis, Hylocereus undatus and Selenicereus megalanthus are the main pitaya species produced and marketed in Brazil. The cultivation this fruit has increased in recent years due to its attractive appearance and sweet taste, and may be consumed fresh and processed for beverage and desserts. However, there are few studies on the biochemical traits and antioxidant capacity of the pulp of these species, which can to contribute to pitaya breeding programs for fresh consumption and processing industrial. The sugars and organic acids were extracted, subsequently, separated and quantified in a chromatographic system. Quantitation of total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity was performed by spectrophotometric analysis using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and the DPPH radical scavenging, respectively. The data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey test. H. undatus presented 9.83% of total sugars, distributed as 4.75% of glucose and 5.08% of fructose. Total sugar concentration for S. megalanthus was 5.93%, with 0.99, 3.25 and 1.69% for glucose, fructose and sucrose, respectively, being the only one specie to had sucrose. The concentrations of organic acids for the species H. costaricensis, H. undatus and S. megalanthus were: 0.83, 0.71 and 0.62% for malic acid, and 0.37, 0.36 and 0.40% for citric acid, respectively. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) was not detected in the pulps. H. costaricensis had the highest content of total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity, 33.75 mg GAE 100 g^-1 and 175.51 ?mol TEAC 100 g^-1, respectively. Thus, the consumption of S. megalanthus fruits is recommended for people who require carbohydrate-restricted diets, although sensory seems to be the sweetest pulp among them probably due sucrose presence. H. undatus pulp is interesting for desserts and beverages industry due to the high sugar contents and low acidity, while fruits of H. costaricensis have the highest antioxidant capacity and can be applied as natural food coloring.