PROTEOLYTIC ACTIVITY IN STEMS OF ‘VITÓRIA’, ‘SMOOTH CAYENNE’ AND PÉROLA’ PINEAPPLE PLANTS

Pineapple is one of the most important tropical fruits, not only due to its quality as fresh and processed product, but also as a source of subproducts such as bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme mixture with large applications in pharmaceutical and food industries.
Looking for solutions for disease problems, Brazilian research institutions have developed new pineapple cultivars such as the ‘Vitória’, released for farmers’ use in the State of Espirito Santo in 2006. ‘Vitória’ plants are resistant to fusariosis, the main pineapple disease in Brazil, and show agronomic characteristics similar or even superior when compared to the traditional cvs. ‘Pérola’ and ‘Smooth Cayenne’. In this work the total protein contents and the proteolytic and specific activities of proteolytic enzymes in pineapple stems of cvs. ‘Vitória’, ‘Pérola’ and ‘Smooth Cayenne’ were determined.
Results indicate that the new cv. ‘Vitória’ presented protein and enzymatic values in stem tissues similar to those found in the ‘Smooth Cayenne’ cultivar.

VI International Pineapple Symposium

H.B. Costa, S.G. Delboni, F.S. Fortunato, J.A. Ventura

Ananas comosus var. comosus, genotypes, bromelain, proteolytic enzymes

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.822.29