Characterization of Bushy Cashew (Anacardium humile A. St.-Hil.) in the State of Goiás, Brazil

The physical and chemical characteristics of the fruits influence the consumer acceptance. The objective of this study was to perform the physical, physico-chemical and chemical characterization of fruits of accessions of bushy cashew (Anacardium humile A. St.-Hil.) (cashew nut and cashew apple) in a germplasm bank located in southwest of the state of Goiás, in Brazil, aiming at the selection of superior accessions, in order to facilitate the initiation of a program to encourage the production and consumption, for provide information for breeding programs and the specie preservation. This research study was conducted at the Laboratory of genetics and molecular biology with material collected in the Experimental Station of the Federal University of Jataí, within the biological ex situ collection of Anacardium humile, in the field of genetic resources. In the harvest of 2016, within this collection, they were evaluated accesses for the characteristics of the cashew apple: length, diameter of base, apex diameter, weight, instrumental coloration of the epidermis and pulp, titratable acidity (citric acid), vitamin C content (ascorbic acid) and carotenoid content; cashew nut were evaluated: length, width, thickness and weight. The results were submitted to descriptive analysis, obtaining average, minimum, maximum and variation coefficient and the correlation between the variables, testing the significance by the t test. Most of the accesses showed high CV for most of the variables, demonstrating high heterogeneity of the observed values. Cashew apples have high levels of vitamin C and carotenoids, indicating the nutritional potential of the specie.