Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 5.1
Important tropical and subtropical fruits and their botanical family
Family
Fruit
Anacardiaceae
Mango, cashew nut (
Anacardium occidentale
L.)
Annonaceae
Cherimoya, sweet soap (
Annona squamosa
L.),
Soursop or guanabana (
Annona muricata
L.),
Custard apple (
Annona reticulata
L.),
Atemoya (
A. cherimola
x
A. squamosa
)
Bombacaceae
Durian
Bromeliaceae
Pineapple
Cactaceae
Pitaya or pitahaya (
Hylocereus
spp. and
Selenicereus megalanthus
Caricaceae
Papaya
Guttifferae
Mangosteen
Lauraceae
Avocado
Malphigiaceae
Acerola
(Malpighia glabra
L.)
Meliaceae
Langsat or duku (
Lansium domesticum
Correa)
Moraceae
Bread fruit, Jack fruit (
Artocarpus
heterophyllus
Lam.)
Musaceae
Bananas and plantains
Myrtaceae
Guava
Oxalidaceae
Carambola
Palmaceae
Coconut
Passifloraceae
Passion fruit, grenadille (
Passiflora ligularis
Juss)
Proteaceae
Macadamia
Sapindaceae
Litchi, longan, rambutan (
Nephelium lappaceum
L.)
Sapotaceae
Sapodilla, lucuma (
Pouteria obovata
Baehni)
Solanaceae
Sweet pepino (
Solanum muricatum
Alt.)
to be more limited, both geographically and quantitatively, than those of the major
category and several of them, together with wild tropical fruits, can be considered
under the group of neglected and underutilised species (NUS). However some mi-
nor tropical fruits can be of significant economic importance in specific regional
markets. Clear examples are the carambola or starfruit (
Averrhoa carambola
L.),
durian (
Durio zibethinus
L.) and mangosteen (
Garcinia mangostana
L.), which are
considered major fruits throughout south-eastern Asia. In the case of wild tropical
fruits, the greatest effort should be devoted to germplasm conservation both
in situ
,
including on farm, and
ex situ
, characterization, evaluation and appropriate use of
genetic resources.
Nutritional Value and Other Uses
With the exception of relative low caloric value fruits such as coconuts, bananas,
macadamia and avocado, most tropical and subtropical fruits play an important role
in the human diet due mainly to their high and diverse vitamin and mineral con-
tents. This has been of significant importance in the tropics where people have been
consuming them since ancient times either by collecting them directly from the wild
or through cultivating these fruits in backyard gardens. The most important case is
that of the banana and the plantains (
Musa
AAB, subgroup plantain), which have
