Sistema de produção sustentável em bananeira ‘prata’ e aproveitamento de subprodutos visando à segurança alimentar

Abstract

Agricultural production is the basis for human subsistence and the natural resources for this production are being gradually depleted, making it necessary to develop techniques and methodologies that make crop management sustainable. A positive alternative to aggregate agricultural production and sustainable management is organic agriculture. Organic banana farming ensures food sovereignty for the entire population, providing more nutritious, tasty and longer lasting fruits, as well as exploiting post-harvest by-products, such as male inflorescence (“heart”), providing greater financial autonomy to the producer. In this study the objectives were to verify the efficiency in the use of organic residues as fertilizer for fruit quality and the production methods of flour generated from the banana heart and its main nutritional qualities. The experiment was carried out in the experimental area of the Fruit Sector, at the Federal University of Lavras Agriculture Department, with Prata-Anã cultivars seedlings, planted in 40x40x40 cm ditches with 3.0 x 2.0 m spacing. A randomized-complete blocks design with eight treatments, three blocks and four plants per plot, making a total of 96 plants was used. For all analyzes only the two central plants of each plot were considered. In the second study, male inflorescences were selected from one-year-old plants in the first production cycle of two of the main cultivars spread in Brazil, Prata-Anã and Grande Naine, collected in the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA) fruit sector. The samples were transported to the Dietetic Technique Laboratory (Department of Nutrition / UFLA) and one inflorescence of each cultivar was separated for in natura analyzes and the other samples were destined to the flour elaboration, submitted to three different dehydration methods. After the dehydration step, all samples were ground in mortar and pestle. At the end of the process, six types of flour were obtained, which were stored in glass bottles and under light at room temperature. In addition, the flours together with in natura inflorescences were subjected to analysis of color, water activity, total phenolics and antioxidant activity by the DPPH method. Finally, ANAVA and Tukey test at 5% significance were applied to evaluate the physic-chemicals data. It was observed that male banana inflorescence has high moisture content, significant amount of fiber and reduced caloric value. Significant differences between the cultivars were demonstrated, with Prata-Anã standing out in relation to the values of crude protein (1.35 g. 100g-1) and crude fiber (1.09 g. 100g-1). Flours showed low yield, ranging from 6.21 to 7.58% and water activity values, ranging from 0.36 to 0.40. The same occurred when evaluating phenolic concentrations and antioxidant potential, which were significantly higher in flour. The flour F2 and F3 of the inflorescences of cultivar Grande Naine showed the best antioxidant potential and the highest values of phenolic compounds. The flours obtained by dehydration in a conventional oven at 120oC exhibited the best results of total phenolics (ranging from 7.61 to 9.17 g EAG.100g1) and darker color. Thus, the present study demonstrated the effectiveness in taking advantage of this banana residue, being viable its consumption in the form of flour due to the nutritional point of view, the practicality of being consumed and by extending product life.