Morphological characterization of mangabeira fruits (Hancornia speciosa gomes) under vegetation of transition cerrado and restinga

Abstract

Brazil is the third largest producer of fruit in the world, but many native fruit trees remain underexploited,
as occurs with the mangabeira (Hancornia speciosa Gomes). Little is known about
the general aspects of the specie in its naturally occurring environment. In this way, the objective
was to characterize the biometry of wild mangabeiras fruits selected in areas of natural
occurrence of the specie in transition vegetation cerrado and restinga. The work occurred in
the municipality of Morros-Maranhao in villages Patizal, Recanto and Recurso, characterized
by extensive areas of transition vegetation cerrado and restinga, with naturally occurring of
mangabeira. In each village, 15 maturing plants were selected, from which 20 fruits were collected
from the soil to determine the mass, length and diameter of fruits, pulp mass plus peel,
pulp yield, number and mass of seeds. There was a high degree of variability for all variables
studied, except for pulp yield (86.69% on an average, minimum of 76.75% and maximum of
91.11%, CV% of 3.51). The high pulp yield of mangaba fruits in Maranhao suggests the potential for industrialization and an alternative source of income for traditional populations that
survive as mangaba pickers.