ABSTRACT Cacti from Northern Chile with potential for domestication: Morphological, chemical, and functional characterization of their fruits
|
Loreto Prat1*, Raquel Pinto2, Elizabeth Apablaza3, Juan C. Carmona3, David Arancibia4, Carlos Mu?oz1, and Carmen S?enz3 |
|
Cacti are plants native to the Americas, characterized for their numerous nutritional and functional values, their multiple uses, and their unique morphology and physiology, which allow them to grow and thrive under dry environments with extreme temperatures and in poor soils. Climate Change is imposing great challenges on research and development in agriculture to maintain productivity using sustainable production systems to cope with human population increases. Several strategies are currently being developed to cope with this problem, being domesticating of new species one strategy, particularly if one uses native cacti species. Chile is particularly rich in endemic cacti species. After studying fruit and ethnobotanical characteristics six species were selected for further studies: Corryocactus brevistylus vernacular named “rumba”; Leucostele atacamensis “pasacana”; Airampoa ayrampo “ayrampo”; Browningia candelaris “sabaya”; Eulychnia iquiquensis, “copao de Iquique”; and Haageocereus chilensis “tunilla” which are native cactus species distributed mainly, but not exclusively, in Northern Chile. Their fruits are edible with functional properties or can be used as natural food colorants, characteristics that makes them suitable for domestication. Fruits of C. brevistylus, H. chilensis and L. atacamensis can be consumed fresh, with L. atacamensis having a very high antioxidant capacity. Airampoa ayrampo, on the other hand, has potential as a natural red-purple food colorant. This work shows specific analytical data related to the proportion of pulp in the fruit of these species, and the presence of functional compounds with antioxidant capacity, such as vitamin C and phenolics compounds. |
Keywords: Antioxidant capacity, arid zone fruits, Cactaceae, food colorant. |
1Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Agron?micas, Departamento de Producci?n Agr?cola, Santiago, Chile. 2ONG BIOTANDINA, Iquique, Chile. 3Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Agron?micas, Departamento de Agroindustria y Enolog?a, Santiago, Chile. 4Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Agron?micas, Centro de Estudios de Zonas ?ridas, Ovalle, Chile. *Corresponding author (mlprat@uchile.cl). |
|