Determinación del porcentaje de aceite de cuatro variedades de aguacate (Persea americana) en el sector Las Viñas

Abstract

Considering the importance of the cultivation of avocado (Persea americana) at the national level and based on its growing production, obtaining avocado oil emerges as an alternative to use the fruit in order to strengthen its production chain. The present work aimed to determine the percentage of oil in four varieties of avocado, with two drying methods (in the sun and in an oven), evaluating the physical characteristics (density, viscosity, oil color, soluble solids of the pulp, index refraction) of avocado oil. The samples were taken at the property of Mrs. Roció Morales Sánchez, located in the Las Viñas San Alfonso sector, of the Ambato canton, Tungurahua Province. According to the Global Positioning System (GPS) it is located at an altitude of 2597 meters above sea level, in the geographical coordinates: latitude 1 ° 14 ”48” S and longitude 78 ° 37 ”05” W. In the investigation a block design was used randomized DBCA, with eight treatments and three repetitions. The methodology used consisted of a previous collection of the fruit of the varieties under study, which were subjected to softening for five days, to later extract the pulp, place it according to the protocol for each treatment and record the information of each variable. During data processing, the Infostat statistical program was used, in the variables with significant responses, the Tukey test was applied to (5%). The result of the investigation determined as the best treatment to the variety Semil 34 with the oven drying method, presenting the best levels of pulp yield, the percentage of extracted oil. Concluding the work, it was found that the physical properties did not show a significant trend and did not present statistically significant differences after an analysis of variance.