Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

PERSIMMON PRODUCTION AND COMMERCIALIZATION IN BRAZIL: AN OVERVIEW

2009; International Society for Horticultural Science; Issue: 833 Linguagem: Inglês

10.17660/actahortic.2009.833.7

2406-6168

D.A. Neuwald, Adriano Arriel Saquet, Ivan Sestari, Cláudia Kaehler Sautter,

Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management

Persimmon was introduced into the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo in 1890 but only expanded its cultivation around 1920 with Japanese immigration. The persimmon growing area in Brazil is now around 8,309 ha, with a production of 164,849 t (FAO, 2006). Sao Paulo has the largest production areas followed by the state of Rio Grande do Sul. In recent years the persimmon area has increased approximately 10% and the trend is to continue crop expansion. The main cultivars are ‘Fuyu’, ‘Rama Forte’, ‘Giombo’ and ‘Taubate’. The market price for persimmon depends on the cultivar and can vary up to 60% with fruit size and up to 30% in fruit quality. In Brazil, most persimmon production is sold fresh in local markets, and in some growing regions persimmon is commercialized as dried fruit or vinegar. However, recently part of the production has been exported to Germany, Canada, Spain, The Netherlands and Portugal. The future challenges are to improve postharvest and storage techniques together with development of an adequate distribution system to meet the increased market demand. Although persimmon is highly perishable, the fruit can be stored for up to two months in regular air storage and three months in controlled atmosphere, but a rapid loss of fruit quality occurs during shelf life. INTRODUCTION In spite of Brazil being one of the largest persimmon producers in the world, persimmon growing can be considered a recent activity. According to Martins and Pereira (1989) the persimmon was introduced into Brazil around 1880, but cultivation expanded greatly from 1920, with Japanese immigration. Currently, persimmons are grown mainly in the south and southeast regions of Brazil, where they have economic and social importance. Most persimmons are sold fresh as ‘in natura’ in local markets, however, in places with Japanese immigration the fruit have been industrialized and commercialized as dried fruit and vinegar. Since 1997, Brazilian persimmons have been exported to Europe and while the volume increases yearly, major constraints for exporting are the need to satisfy requirements for fruit quality, quarantine and storage life, which limits long distance transport. The aim of this paper is to review the current status of the persimmon crop in Brazil. Botanical Aspects Some cultivars lose astringency naturally on the tree as the fruit develop, while 51 Proc. IV th IS on Persimmon Eds.: E. Bellini and E. Giordani Acta Hort. 833, ISHS 2009 others maintain astringency until maturity. So persimmons are classified into two groups, astringent and non-astringent, based on the presence or absence of astringency in the fruit at maturity. Each group is further classified into two sub-types, pollination-constant (PC) or pollination-variant (PV), depending on the seed effect on the loss of astringency and flesh colour. Thus, all persimmon cultivars are classified to either pollination-constant and non-astringent (PCNA), pollination variant and non-astringent (PVNA), pollinationconstant and astringent (PCA), or pollination-variant and astringent (PVA) (Sugiura, 2005). Amongst persimmon cultivars, PCNA is commercially most desirable because it loses astringency on the tree and does not require further postharvest treatment (Yamada et al., 2002). In addition, the Brazilian industry uses a classification suggested by Campo Dall’Orto et al. (1996) where fruit are classified into three groups, astringent or ‘Sibugaki’, non-astringent or ‘Amagaki’ and variables. Fruit in the first group are continually astringent with yellow flesh either with or without seeds, the most important cultivars in this group are ‘Taubate’, ‘Coracao de Boi’ and ‘Hachiya’. Fruit classified in the second group are always non-astringent and show yellow flesh independent of the presence of seeds. ‘Fuyu’, ‘Jiro’ and ‘Fuyuhana’ are examples of this group. The last group is described as variable and consists of astringent fruit with yellow flesh when without seeds, and partial or fully non astringent when one or more seeds are present. When numerous seeds are present, the flesh is dark. ‘Rama Forte’ and ‘Giombo’ are the main examples (Martins and Pereira, 1989). Harvesting Fruit production usually starts when a tree is around three years old. Harvest decisions are based on visual changes in the fruit skin colour, usually when it turns from green to yellow-red. Fruit classified as sweet and variable types are harvested at a yellowgreenish stage, while fruit classified as astringent is best harvested as orange-reddish. The pigment content is variable among the cultivars. The skin colour change in persimmon is related to chlorophyll loss, and increases in carotenoid pigments such as β-cryptoxantine, zeaxantine and lycopene. The harvest is concentrated from February to June and is characteristic for each cultivar but varies according to climate conditions and local cultural practices. Astringency Removal Astringent persimmons, in the ‘Sibugaki’ group when non-pollinated, need to be treated after harvest to remove astringency. Many methods are reported as effective in removing astringency, however, all methods induce anaerobic metabolism which results in acetaldehyde and ethanol accumulation in the fruit flesh that then reacts with the tannins to form an insoluble gel (Matsuo and Ito, 1982). CO2 treatment is suggested as the best method to reduce astringency, because large quantities of fruit can be treated in a short period and ripening processes can be retarded (Kato, 1990). In practice, astringency removal treatment for ‘Giombo’ and ‘Rama Forte’, the major astringent cultivars grown in Sao Paulo, is based on ethanol vapour treatment. This method has one major disadvantage in increasing fruit softening, principally due to excessive exposure time to high concentrations of ethanol and an absence of subsequent cold storage. Trial work to improve the marketing and transport of these cultivars and reduce postharvest quality losses has been carried out (Antoniolli et al., 2002). At present, the research group led by Ricardo Kluge, at the University of Sao Paulo are studying the astringency removal process and the influence of factors such as cultivar, ripening stage, method used (CO2, ethylene, ethanol vapours or vacuum package), rates and exposure time of astringent removal agents and the temperature during the process. Storage Several problems have been found during the storage and shelf life of persimmon,