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Some changes in the composition of the fruit of the glasshouse cucumber ( Cucumis sativus ) during growth, maturation and senescence
Author(s) -
Davies Jack N.,
Kempton Ronald J.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740270504
Subject(s) - cucumis , potassium , sucrose , fructose , dry matter , dry weight , chemistry , phosphorus , horticulture , senescence , composition (language) , titratable acid , nutrient , sugar , zoology , biology , botany , food science , linguistics , philosophy , organic chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology
Female cucumber flowers were tagged when fully open and the resultant fruit harvested for growth and chemical analysis at intervals of between 2 and 28 days. The growth curve relating fresh weight and time was sigmoidal approaching a maximum after about 14 days. Similar relationships were obtained for the total content per fruit of sugars, acids and the major nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The percentage dry matter and alcohol‐insoluble solids fell rapidly during the first 10 days of growth and then more slowly with increasing fruit age. In contrast, the percentage alcohol‐soluble solids changed little during the first 6 days and then decreased progressively. The major sugars, glucose and fructose, present in approximately equal amounts, increased rapidly for the first 6 days and then changed little until the onset of senescence. Traces of sucrose and myoinositol were present at all stages of development. The titratable acidity was extremely low and was closely correlated with the potassium content. On a dry weight basis, total and alcoholsoluble N and P increased slowly during the early stages of growth but more rapidly with increasing maturity. On the other hand, K concentrations tended to decrease.