Chikoo leaves skin#

The storage life of the fruit may be extended if the fruit is held at 4☌ before storing at 20☌. The fruit can be stored for up to three weeks at 12 to 16☌ maintaining a relative humidity of 85–90%. The sweet taste of the fruit is due to the presence of simple sugars such as glucose, fructose and sucrose.

Chikoo leaves skin#

The skin has a rough texture and is brown in color. The flesh of superior varieties is seedless and has a smoother texture (Mickelbart, Citation1996). It is light brown in color with a gritty texture and typically contains 12 black, flat seeds. The pulp, the inner fleshy part of the fruit, is soft and easily digestible. The fruit is round or egg shaped ranging from 5 to 9 cm in diameter and weighing 75 to 200 g. The propagation of the tree is mostly vegetative (Mickelbart, Citation1996). Fertilizers rich in potassium in conjunction with phosphorous is beneficial to the crop. Young trees require irrigation for the first four years. Pruning is not necessary for the first ten years.

It is also able to thrive under dry conditions, in the presence of poor soil and in low rainfall areas as the roots are located within 75 cm of the depth of soil. The plant is well adapted to grow in a wide range of climatic conditions ranging from dry cool subtropical to wet tropical climatic conditions growing to heights of 30 m (Mickelbart, Citation1996). The origin of the name sapodilla is from the Latin word zapotilla which means small sapote. Sapodilla is one of the more popular names in America. naseberry (British West Indies), chicku (India), chicopote, chickozapote (Mexico), dilly (Bahamas), kauki (Southeast Asia), mispu, mispel, mispelboon (Suriname), muyozapot (El Salvador), nispero (Puerto Rico), sapitija, sapodilla plum, sapodilla (Dutch West Indies), sapota, sapote (Cuba), sapoti or sapotilha (Brazil), sapotille and sapotillier (French West Indies) (Mickelbart, Citation1996).