Biochemical composition of Soursop fruit, Annona muricata L., as affected by two harvest seasons

Abstract

Soursop, Annona muricata L., is a crop with promising economic value. The effects of season of harvesting and state of hardness on biochemical composition of the fruit juice were investigated. Analysis of variance of mean determinants of treatments, season versus hardness, was done and means separated by the LSD, p< .01. Value of pH for class 1 (hard-but-ripe) and class 11 (ripeand- soft) were 3.6 and 4.6, respectively. High significance occurred for sugar content, 17.0 19.0% and 20.0 23.0% for wet and dry seasons harvests, respectively, identified as glucose, fructose and maltose. The organic acids were citric and malic. Titratable acidity, as citric acid, also significantly different, were 156.85 438.40mg/l00ml and 297.60 842.24mg/100ml. Similar significance was reflected for other parameters including volatile acidity, as acetic acid, 6.0 39.0,g/100ml and 168.0 108.0mg/100ml, fixed acidity, 150.80 399.63mg/100ml and 129.6 735.53mg/100ml, ascorbic acid, 108.75 - 196.13mg/100ml and 166.21 204.01mg/100ml, respectively for wet season and dry season harvests. Percent protein was 1.19-1.71% and 0.50- 1.40% for the wet and dry seasons, respectively. Soft fruits had alcohol content of 1.2% and 0.9% for wet and dry season harvests, respectively. Seasonal changes, rather than storage conditions, were thought to have influenced parameters determined.