Studies on the Physio-chemical Characteristics of Date Fruits of Five U.A.E. Cultivars at Different Stages of Maturity PDF

Keywords

date fruit, UAE, chemical composition

Abstract

Date fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) samples of five cultivars viz. Shahla, Gash Gaafar, Gash Habash, Lulu and Bushibal, were evaluated for their physical and chemical composition. All the cultivars were green at the kimri stage, but after reaching the Khalal stage, they each attained a distinctive color of their own. The Shahla and Bushibal varieties were red, the Gash Gaafar and Lulu varieties yellow, and Gash Habash variety yellow-scarlet. The Lulu fruit was nearly round while fruit from the other four cultivars was cylindrical in shape. The fruit weights ranged from 4.6 to 7.6 and from 6.5 to 10.6 g at the kimri and khalal stages, respectively. These cultivars can, therefore, be classified as small-fruit varieties. The pulp:seed ratios centered around 90:10 in most of the cultivars. They were slightly lower (84:16) in the Gash Habash and Bushibal varieties. At the kimri-stage, the fruits had a moisture content between 84 and 85.5%, which decreased to between 48.7 and 59.9% at khalal. The moisture content decreased further at rutab (between 38 and 49%) and tamr (between 13.7 and 27.7%). As the fruits matured from kimri to tamr, their chemical composition changed considerably. Moisture, protein, ash, fat, tannin and crude fiber contents decreased progressively from kimri to tamr, but total sugars, glucose and fructose increased. At the tamr stage, glucose and fructose were the main sugars present; but sucrose was not detected in these cultivars. The date cultivars were found to be reasonably good sources of some important minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, copper and zinc, but extremely low in sodium content.