Premature harvesting of guavirá fruit (Campomanesia xanthocarpa O.Berg) as a strategy to reach far-away sales locations

Abstract

The guavirá is a rainforest native fruit with a very short postharvest life. This limits both the possibility of consumption and processing far from the harvesting sites. The objective of this research was to analyse whether harvesting immature fruit would be an adequate strategy to increase their postharvest life. Different guavirá maturity stages were defined at the time of harvesting based on the skin colour of the fruit on the plant. The fruit harvested at 100% orange were highly perishable compared to the 75% and 50% orange ones. The validation of selecting the ripening stage based on eye-detected skin colour was confirmed by measuring colour, firmness, acidity, and soluble solids. After four days at room temperature, the postharvest ripening of guavirá resulted in organoleptic qualities (colour and firmness) and nutritional qualities (antioxidants) similar to those of tree-ripened fruit. Storage at 8-10°C did not increase the post-harvest life of guavirá compared to room temperature.