Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure
6.16.
Major nutrient content of nontree tropical fruits. (From data in USDA National
Nutrient
Database
for
Standard
Reference,
Release
17.
http:
//
www.nal.usda.gov
/
fnic
/
foodcomp
/
Data
/
SR17
/
reports
/
sr17page.htm.)
categories of vitamins and minerals. Of these tropical fruits papaya is the highest in B
vitamins due to its relatively high levels of niacin, folic acid, and pantothenic acid.
However, banana has a higher content of niacin, B
6
, and pantothenic acid than
does papaya.
6.5
SUBTROPICAL FRUITS
World production of subtropical fruits, from FAO data on the basis of dates, figs, grape-
fruit, lemons, limes, olives, and oranges, is shown in Figure 6.17, which also shows that
most production is in the Americas and Asia with the highest production in countries
surrounding the Mediterranean. Table 6.3 gives the characteristics of some selected
subtropical fruit and how it is most commonly eaten.
Subtropical fruits are favored around the world by all peoples. Production is
typically not possible in temperate zones and is not common in humid tropical
zones except at high-altitude zones in tropical regions where they can be success-
fully produced. Both oranges and passion fruit are grown commercially in
Zimbabwe at the higher altitudes. Passion fruit is commonly shipped from Zimbabwe
to Europe.
The most widely grown subtropical fruit is citrus, which grows on trees. Many
citrus trees are small in stature when compared to tropical and temperate fruit trees par-
ticularly the mango and apple trees. Because of their small stature, they are relatively
easy to spray to control insects or other pests. In addition to citrus there are many other
important subtropical fruits such as figs and olives, which grow on trees; see
Figure 6.18. While these are preeminent fruits of the Middle East and Mediterranean,
their production in all other parts of the world is minimal or nonexistent. These fruits
