Post-harvest quality of 'Vitoria' pineapple as a function of the types of shoots and age of the plant for floral induction

For the production and quality of pineapple fruits, the appropriate choice of the type of propagule to be used combined with the management of the ages for floral induction are important factors to reach the maximum of desirable characteristics that will define the success in the production of the pineapple and its good acceptance in the market. The objective of this research was to evaluate the post-harvest quality of fruits developed from different types of shoots and ages of floral induction of 'Vitoria' pineapple. The experiment was carried out in a complete randomized block design with four replications. The plots were made up of the shoots (slip and sucker) and the subplots were composed of the different ages of floral induction (8, 10 and 12 months after planting and natural flowering). Evaluations of biomass characteristics of fruits with and without crown, circumference, length, diameter, firmness, translucency, pulp color and physicochemical quality were performed. No significant interaction was observed for the biometric and biomass variables, and the type of shoots influenced only the crown biomass and the central cylinder diameter, which were higher in the slips, in addition, for the attributes color, translucent area and firmness, no interaction was found, and they were influenced only by the induction times, except for the variable color referring to the intensity of green and red colors. Regardless of the types of the shootss evaluated in the environmental conditions of planting carried out in April 2015, the fruits originated from natural inductions and inductions at 12 months presented greater firmness, a desirable characteristic for export and industrialization, mainly for the processing of slices of pineapple, pieces in syrup and crystallized. The slips natural induced and induced at 12 months provided fruits with a greater ratio between soluble solids and acidity.