Canangucha (Mauritia flexuosa L. f): A potential fruit in the colombian amazon

Canangucha is a palm from the Colombian Amazon of great industry interest, due to its expansion and ecosystem and food services it offers to communities. The objective of this work was to evaluate the morphometric, physical, and chemical characteristics, as well as the yield of the canangucha fruit in both EI and EII ecotypes, this characterization can become the starting point for the development of the value chain of the fruit. For the fruits and seeds, the longitudinal diameter (LD), equatorial diameter (ED), mass (g), and color (L*, a*, b*) were determined. The pulp was characterized based on pH, °Brix, moisture content, aw, color, crude protein, total lipids, crude fiber, carbohydrates, minerals, total phenols (TP), antioxidant capacity (ABTS and DPPH methods), α-carotene, β- carotene and α-tocopherol. The fruit mass is comprised 61-65% seed, 15 17% pulp and 19-21% pericarp. The morphometric variables of the fruit and seed of ecotypes I and II showed a significant difference (P