Phenology and physical and chemical characterization of avocado fruits for oil extraction

Avocado is a very productive plant. It has several cultivars that present great variation on time of fruit production and oil content in the pulp. Studies have indicated that the avocado oil is similar to olive oil, and can be used in cosmetics and also for human consumption. The objective of this study was to evaluate the phenological characteristics and fruit physicochemical conditions in avocado cultivars from the highlands of Serra da Mantiqueira in Sao Bento do Sapucai - SP aiming oil extract. The evaluations were conducted on the cultivars 'Ouro Verde', 'Wagner', 'Campinas', 'Paulistinha', 'Fuerte', 'Pedroso', 'Margarida', 'Hass', 'Fortuna', 'Quintal' and 'Reis'. Were evaluated the phenological characteristics in 2008/09 and 2009/10 cicles, longitudinal and transverse diameter, percentage of pulp, peel and seed against to the total mass, centesimal composition and main acids present in the crude oil extracted from cultivars rich in lipids. Results indicate that the flowering period ranged from August to November and harvesting from July to November, the cultivar 'Ouro Verde' was the earliest and Fuerte, Campinas and Hass were more delayed. Paulistinha and Reis fruit had higher longitudinal diameter. Paulistinha stood out with the highest percentage of pulp. The greatest concentration of lipids in the pulp were obtained in cultivars 'Fuerte' and 'Hass' with predominance of oleic acid in the samples.