Effect of Maturity Stage on Physicochemical Properties of Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) Flesh

Abstract

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) is one of the popular crops in Sri Lanka. This study was carried out to investigate the changes in physicochemical properties including colour, texture, moisture content, total soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, vitamin C, total starch and total sugar contents in four maturity stages of jackfruit flesh. The results of the study clearly indicate a significant difference (p<0.05) in physicochemical traits at different maturity stages of jackfruit flesh. The colour parameters varied significantly during maturation with a marked increase of a* and b* values and the hardness decreased with maturity. The moisture content ranged between 70.94 - 89.21%. Total soluble solids increased with maturity from 3.4 to 19.6%, corresponding to the increase of total sugar content. pH increased from the immature stage 1 (5.27) to the mature stage (6.25), then decreased during ripening up to 5.76, while the variation of titratable acidity showed the opposite pattern of pH, ranging between 0.17 - 0.29%. The vitamin C content increased with maturity with a range of 2.18 - 8.17 mg 100g . Total starch content increased with maturity from 1.597% to 19.533%, but then decreased with 1 ripening up to 6.237%. The variation of Total Phenolic Content showed a decreasing pattern from the immature stage 1 (46.969 mg GAE/g) to mature stage (3.754 mg GAE/g) and then slightly increased in the fully ripen stage (9.530 mg GAE/g).