Ananas comosus

Floral escape in beforeis, side view.

Floral escape in beforeis, cenital view.

loose seeds

Ananas comosus (pineapple, pineapple, matzatli or pineapple) is a species in the bromeliaceae family, native to South America. A small plant with hard, lanceolate leaves up to 1 m long, it bears fruit once a year, producing a single fragrant and sweet fruit, highly appreciated in gastronomy.

Description

Although most bromeliads are epiphytes, A. comosus is a perennial, terrestrial plant, apparently acaule, with a basal rosette of rigid, sessile, lanceolate, closely imbricated leaves, with the margins endowed with short-pointed spines, 30-100 cm long; they are slightly concave, to lead rainwater towards the rosette. The reddish stem becomes visible around the age of three, growing longitudinally until reaching between 1 and 1.5 m. Small shoots appear from the leaf axils that growers cut for reproduction, although if left they can produce more fruits.

Spike-shaped inflorescences sprout from the stem, with thickened stems, formed by several dozen purple-colored trimerous flowers, which appear at the end of a scape in the axils of the bracts. The flowers are hermaphrodite, sessile, with inconspicuous bracts, the external tepals barely asymmetrical and free, with superior ovary. The flowering period extends for a month or more; the plant is self-sterile, a trait selected by breeders to favor vegetative reproduction. Pollination is in charge, in their natural environment, of hummingbirds.^{[citation needed]}

The fruit is a small berry, which merges early with the adjacent ones in a syncarp or infructescence, large and ovoid in shape. The heart of the more fibrous syncarp is formed from the thickened axial stalk, and the ovary walls, bract base, and sepals are transformed into a slightly fibrous, yellow pulp. fruit. The flower cavity hardens its walls; depending on the cultivar, it appears as an empty cell next to the skin, in which the hard and filiform remains of the stamens are preserved, or it is reduced to grooves. Further inward, the ovary cells, which contain the seeds in the rare case of fertilization, also narrow considerably. The latter are two millimeters in size, wrinkled, tonsillar-shaped, and more or less dark brown in color.

Its aroma is due to ethyl butyrate.^{[citation needed]}

Distribution and habitat

Pineapple is clearly a tropical crop. It accepts any type of soil, as long as it has good drainage; waterlogged soils can cause root rot. It is slightly acidophilic, preferring a pH between 5.5 and 6; it requires good concentrations of nitrogen and potassium, some magnesium and limited amounts of calcium and phosphorus. It does not tolerate frost or floods, and requires high temperatures to bear fruit, around 24 °C; excess heat, exceeding 30 °C, damages the quality of the fruit by exacerbating the metabolic cycle; the rainfall regime must be between 1000 and 1500 mm per year. It does not normally grow above 800 m s. no. m. (meters above sea level), although there are isolated plantations in Colombia, Kenya and Malaysia in high altitude areas.

Originally from some unspecified place in South America, it probably comes from the Cerrado, specifically from the Altiplano Goiaseño. Diversity studies suggest that it originated between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina (that is, the source area of the La Plata basin), from where it spread to the upper course of the Amazon and the area of Venezuela and the Guianas. Around AD 200 C. was cultivated in Peru by the Mochicas, who represented it in their ceramics. In the 16th century it spread to Europe and the tropics of Africa and Asia.

Use

Culinary

The fruit for consumption can be fresh and canned. In the West it is commonly used as a dessert and in salads, although more and more as a sweet ingredient in oriental food preparations. When the pineapple is ripe, the pulp is firm but flexible, the leaves can be torn off with a strong yank, and the aroma is stronger at the bottom. Due to the cost of transporting the fresh fruit and the concentration of consumption, numerous industrialized by-products are produced, especially juices, yogurts, ice creams and jams. An excellent and very aromatic vinegar is produced from the juice.

It is the main ingredient in some cocktails, such as the piña colada. In Mexico, tepache is made, a refreshing fermented drink that uses the pineapple peel as a base. There also seems to be indications that in pre-Hispanic times it was used to soften meat and produce vinegar.

It is also used to make pineapple jelly, cakes and desserts and is high in fiber. There are recipes in which it is used, such as paella with pineapple and pizza with pineapple.

Although the proteolytic enzyme bromelain is concentrated in the stems, if the juice contains enough of it, it can be used as a meat tenderizer.

Medical

Among the medicinal properties of the fruit, the most notable is that of bromelain, which helps to metabolize food. It is also diuretic, slightly antiseptic, detoxifying, antacid and vermifuge. Its use has been studied as an adjunct in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, sciatica, and obesity control.

The high concentration of bromelain in the peel and other parts has led to its use in decoction to relieve laryngeal and pharyngeal infections, as well as topical use for cystitis and other infections.

According to some studies, bromelain produces autophagy in breast carcinoma cells, which promotes the cellular process of apoptosis.

• Indications: It is protein, digestive: bromelin is a digestive ferment comparable to pepsin and papain. Anti-inflammatory, hypolipidizing, antiplatelet. Diuretic, vitamine, of great nutritional value. Dissemination agent, sores detergent. Indicated for hyposecretive dyspepsia, rheumatism, arthritis, gout, urolitiasis, arteriosclerosis. Bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, mucoviscidosis. In topical use: cleaning of wounds and trophic ulcerations. The pineapple heart has been preconditioned as a supporter in thinning regimes, for its fiber content, with satiating and slightly laxative action.

Cultivation

Pineapple can be planted at any time of the year in moist soil, although the best time is autumn. Reproduction from seed is rare. More frequently the basal part of the same is used, although the buds of the distal stem or the crown of bracts of the fruit can also be used. Naturally, the basal shoots develop, bear fruit and give rise to new stems. The different types of suckers are known as crown (the apical meristem), rooster (the stalk buds) and cloves (stems of the stalk bud).).

Saplings are planted in a row, leaving 40-45cm between plants and slightly more between rows, or more if mechanical spraying with herbicides is to be applied, with a total density of 37,500-50,000 plants per hectare. Fruit plantations for industrial purposes are tighter, with up to 80,000 plants. It is weeded twice a year; the alternative is spraying with herbicides, especially ametrine, diuron and even uracils such as bromacil. It is fertilized tri or biannually with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, from 5 to 6 g per plant, to which magnesium is sometimes added. In frosty areas, the plant should be covered during the cold season.

The main harvest is usually from early summer to early fall. It is a non-climacteric fruit, that is, it must be harvested already ripe, because once cut, the ripening stops completely and begins to deteriorate. Pineapple is not very sensitive to the presence of ethylene, and has a low production of this phytohormone. The most appropriate conditions for its conservation are temperatures of 7 to 13 °C and humidity of 85-90%. Postharvest life in conditions optimal conservation reaches between 2 and 4 weeks.

Yield of 30% is considered acceptable, i.e. 12,000 to 18,000 fruits between 1 and 2.5 kg (2.2 and 5.5 lb) per hectare. Plants are normally renewed every two harvest cycles to avoid yield decline. With the use of ethephon, flowering can be induced to regulate the productive cycle.

There are studies related to diseases caused by the physiological disorder called "Mal de girdle".

Cultivars

Some cultivars have been selected to improve the yield of the fruit for packaging (piñas peroleras): generally the fruit is cylindrical and elongated.

Some growers

• Spanish Red
• Hi.
• Smooth Cayenne
• St. Michael.
• Kona Sugarloaf
• Natal Queen
• Pernambuco
• Victoria, very tasty little pineapples, especially usual on the Island of La Réunion.

Production

Main pineapple producers (2018, last year available) (tonnes)
Costa RicaCosta Rica	3 418 155
PhilippinesPhilippines	2 730 985
BrazilBrazil	2 650 479
Thailand	2 113 380
IndonesiaIndonesia	1 805 506
India	1 706 000
NigeriaNigeria	1 664 510
ChinaChina	1 573 471
Mexico Mexico	999 593
ColombiaColombia	900 395
GhanaGhana	713 942
VietnamVietnam	654 801
AngolaAngola	597 662
Peru Peru	548 465
Venezuela Venezuela	518 664
Source: UN: Statistics Division.

Today, pineapple is the second largest tropical crop in volume, surpassed only by banana (Musa paradisiaca), and accounts for more than 20% of the commercial production of this type of fruit, of which 70% is consumed fresh in the country of origin. The rest goes to canning in syrup, a practice started in Hawaii in the 18th century, which is the most consumed form in temperate countries.

The main producers are Costa Rica, Brazil, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India, which account for 50% of the production. Other notable producers are Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand and China. The most important cultivar is the so-called 'smooth Cayenne', originally from French Guiana.

Taxonomy

Denomination of fruit in Spanish according to country

Ananas comosus was first described by Charles Linnaeus as Bromeliad comosa and published in Herbarium Amboinenese, vol. 21, 1754 and later attributed to the genus Ananas by Elmer Drew Merrill and published in An Interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense, 133, 1917.

Etymology

The term "pineapple" was adopted because of its resemblance to the cone of a conifer. The word ananá is of Guarani origin, from the word naná naná, which means 'perfume of perfumes'.

• Ananas is a latinization that derives from the previous one.
• like his, Latin epithet which means ‘forgive’ and, in the case of plants, refers to the numerous leaves, i.e. ‘holy’, ‘frondose’. Employed by Pliny the Old with this sense in Natural History (26, XLV, 71).
• In Argentina the word "piña" means punch with the fist, so to refer to the fruit is called ananá

Cultivate 'Victoria'.

A plantation in Veracruz, Mexico.

Sinonimia