Postharvest Treatment of Tropical Fruits Pineapple (Ananas comosus), Mamey (Mammea americana), and Banana (Musa paradisiaca) by Means of a Solar Dryer Designed

Abstract

The objective of this research was to know the useful life of dehydrated tropical fruits based on a solar dryer designed and developed under the conditions of Calceta, Bolívar Canton of the Province of Manabí, Ecuador. The physical and chemical characteristics exhibited during the radiation dehydration process were satisfactory, in fresh pineapple from 86.36% low humidity to 21.07%, from 0.67% protein to 2.45%, and from 2.05% fiber to 3.73%; in mamey from 79.30 to 21.07%, from 0.41 to 2.55%, and from 2.50 to 4.94%; and in bananas with from 80.22 to 10.35%, from 1.27 to 2.14%, and from 0.88 to 2.42. Microbiological analyses determined the life span of the products estimated at 174, 106, and 109 days, respectively, in pineapple, mamey, and banana. As for the attributes measured with the 1–5 scale of sensory evaluation, the mean treatments of their attributes such as color, sweetness, appearance, and taste were demonstrated where bananas present better color attributes with 4.38; 4.58, sweetness; 4.58, texture;4.68, appearance; and 4.75, flavor. Where significant diffraction can be determined relative to the calculated value p > 0.05 of <0.0001, the R statistic in pineapple indicates 48.0814% variability in decreasing moisture pineapple (DMP), and its correlation coefficient is equal to 0.693408; the R statistic in mamey indicates 55.6423% variability in decreasing moisture mamey (DMM), and its correlation coefficient is equal to 0.745938; and finally the R statistic in banana indicates 56.339% variability in decreasing moisture banana (DMB), and its correlation coefficient is equal to 0.750593, indicating a moderately strong relationship between variables in all cases.