Ananas (Pineapple) - Ananas Comosus Merr

Ananas also called as Pineapple and botanically named as Ananas comosus Merr is a kind of thick and rough-skinned fruit, but the fruit has a soft texture and watery inside.

Some sources say that the fruit came from Brazil and Paraguay, but now spread throughout Latin America, South Asia, South East Asia, Africa, and Australia. Currently there are over 2000 pineapple species identified worldwide.

According to UN-FAO the biggest pineapple product now come from South Asia Countries; the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, the second region contributor come from Latin America; Costa Rica, Chile and Brazil.

Pineapples are a composite of many flowers whose individual fruitless fuse together around a central core. Each fruit let can be identified by an "eye," the rough spiny marking on the pineapple's surface. Pineapples have a wide cylindrical shape, a scaly green, brown, or yellow skin, and a regal crown of spiny, blue-green leaves and fibrous yellow flesh. The area closer to the base of the fruit has more sugar content and therefore a sweeter taste and more tender texture.

So far, this fruit has become part of the commercial commodity and cultivates many regions around the world, Pineapple can be consume directly as a fresh fruit, but can also be proceed as but can also be further processed into a variety of dishes, including part of the syrup, cake or candy and various others.

Varieties

Smooth Cayenne, this variety has greatest size among pineapple varieties; pineapple weight can reach 2 to 4 kg.  Flesh pale yellow fruit, but has more sugar content and acid. Ideal temperature for growing conditions is 20 degrees Celsius. Therefore, it is more suitable to be planted in sub-tropical regions.

Smooth Cayenne has some sub-varieties.

Spanish Variety, weight about 1,3kg per piece, the flesh is golden brown and stringy.  The skin is more powerful that tend to be more durable. This type is widely used as raw material of canned fruit.

Queen, this type has the sweetest meat, dark yellow, but not durable, generally made juice or syrup or consumed directly as fresh fruit. The advantage of this variety is a shorter growing season, but has smallest size in average.

Tropical area becomes favorite place to grow for this type of variety.

Nutritional Profile

Pineapple is an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese. It is also a good source of vitamin B1, vitamin B6, folate, copper and dietary fiber.

Health Benefits:

• Potential Anti-Inflammatory and Digestive Benefits
• Antioxidant Protection and Immune Support
• Protection against Macular Degeneration

Storage

Cold storage at a temperature of 40°F (4.44°C) and lower causes chilling injury and breakdown in pineapples. At 44.6-46.4°F (7-8°C) and above, 80-90% relative humidity and adequate air circulation, normal ripening progresses during and after storage. At best, pineapples may be stored for no more than 4-6 weeks. There is a possibility that storage life might be prolonged by dipping the fruits in a wax emulsion containing a suitable fungicide. Irradiation extends the shelf life of half- ripe pineapples by about one week.

Cultivation and Plantation

Pineapple plants can grow well in areas with rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year with a number between 1000-2000 Mm per year as well as the optimum temperature of 32 C. This plant grows well in areas with an altitude of 100-200 M from sea level, but in certain circumstances can also grow well at an altitude of 1200 M above sea level.

Pineapple plants grow well in loose soil cannot stand a puddle of water, especially in wet areas with waterlogged clay long enough, pineapple plants will grow languish. For dry areas required a good irrigation system and the ground water is not more than 150 cm of sea level. Land suitable for cultivation of pineapple is lightly textured soil (sand) and medium and contains a lot of humus with a pH of about 4,5 - 5,5 for podzolic soil with a high content of Litany, pineapples can be grown with intensive fertilization offset and the use of high organic fertilizers.

Weeding is carried out every 3 months, prior to weeding the leaves should be tied so that weeding is not disturbed by the spiny leaves. Along with weeding, soil needs to be loose so that the roots of the plants get enough air, after the job is complete weeding, leaf ties removed while for flat lands in wet climates need to be made drainage ditch. Watering should be arranged so that water does not stagnate.

Irrigation is required at the time of the buildup; around the clump of pineapple, plants can be given additional cover (mulch) such as straw, leaves and so on.

Harvest.

In general pineapple can be harvested after the age of 12-15 months depending on the seed used. Pineapple fruit is ready to harvest can be determined from:

• Fruit stalk into wrinkles;
• Eyes more horizontal and large thorns and reinforced more rounded;
• Fruit color begins to turn yellow;
• Fragrant pineapple aroma arises.

Scientific classification

Kingdom    : Plantae

Order         : Poales

Family        : Bromeliaceae

Subfamily   : Bromelioideae

Genus        : Ananas