QUALIDADE PÓS COLHEITA DE CARURU EM RESPOSTA AO TEMPO DE HIDRORESFRIAMENTO

Abstract

The “caruru” originally from tropical and subtropical American, have been classified as a plant of the genus Amaranthus, them are too known by pigweed and bredo. It is described as unconventional vegetables that can be included in human food. The pigweed is a vegetable highly perishable and the use of optimum temperature of storage, as soon as possible, allows higher quality and postharvest life. This study was carried out to evaluated the viability of hydrocooling in different immersion times (immediately, 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes) as way to reducing postharvest losses. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replication. After treatments the pigweed packets, Amaranthus cruentus and Amaranthus deflexus L., were placed in perforated plastic bags and stored at 9 ºC and 80±5% RH. The temperature of pigweed packets during hydrocooling and postharvest life was measured using infrared thermometer. Postharvest quality of pigweed was determined daily such as the soluble solids, titratable acidity, total soluble sugar, pH, vitamin C, weight loss, electrolytes leakage rate, relative water content and chloroplastid pigments. Data were submitted to variance analysis and treatments were compared by Tukey test at 5% probability, to compare the effects of treatments on postharvest quality of pigweed. We verified that hydrocooling and storage at 9 ° C and 80 ± 5% RH, delayed postharvest quality degradation processes, but did not extended the shelf life pigweed packets. The postharvest life varied between species, with five days to Amaranthus cruentus and three days to Amaranthus deflexus L.