Influence of fruit size on quality of Marian Plum cv. Sawasdee (Bouea macrophylla Giff. cv. Sawasdee)

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the effects of fruit sizes (small, medium and large) on physical and chemical qualities of Marian plum cv. Sawasdee (Bouea macrophylla Giff. cv. ‘Sawasdee’). All Marian plum fruit were harvested at 80% peel color turning from green to yellow. They were subsequently determined for fruit width, fruit length, fruit weight, pulp weight, peel weight, seed weight, pulp thickness, peel thickness, seed size, peel color, pulp color, firmness, percent dry weight of peel and pulp, vitamin C content, carotenoid content of peel and pulp, pH value, total soluble solids (TSS) content, titratable acidity (TA) and TSS/TA ratio. The results showed that large size fruit had the greatest fruit width, fruit length, fruit weight, pulp weight, peel weight, seed weight, pulp thickness and seed size, followed by the values obtained from medium and small size Marian fruit, respectively. Notwithstanding, small fruit Marian plum had higher TA and TSS content, however, lower in TSS/TA ratio than the large fruit. Nevertheless, fruit sizes had no significant effect on peel thickness, peel color, pulp color, fruit firmness, percent dry weight of peel and pulp, vitamin C content, carotenoid content of peel and pulp and pH of Marian plum cv. Sawasdee.