CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BARU ALMONDS (Dipteryx alata Vog.) FROM THE SAVANNAH OF GOIAS, BRAZIL

Aiming to broaden the knowledge about the nutritional content of baru fruits, a tree species from the Brazilian Savannah, in order to subsidize its economic management, it was determined the chemical characteristics of baru almonds from different geographical regions. In the state of Goias eleven sites were chosen for their abundance of baru trees, and at each site twelve trees in full production were randomly selected. Approximately sixty fruits were collected and, after selection, twenty fruits per tree were sampled. The almonds were extracted from the fruits and crushed, constituting a composite sample. Moisture content, protein, ether extract, minerals and fatty acid profiles were determined and submitted to analysis of variance and the means were compared by the Tukey test at 5% of probability. The almonds average moisture contents varied from 2.93 to 5.07g (100g)(-1) from 25.16 to 27.69 (100)(-1) for proteins and from 32.42 to 37.36g (100)(-1) for ether extract. The average content of saturated fatty acids varied from 19.93 to 25.74g (100g)(-1), and the unsaturated fatty acids varied from 73.47 to 79.19g (100g)(-1). The most common fatty acids were oleic and linoleic, followed by palmitic, lignoceric, estearic, behenic gadoleic and araquitic. The most common mineral macronutrients were potassium, phosphorus and sulfur. Among the mineral micronutrients, iron had the highest concentration.