Description
Tropical fruits are mainly found in tropical regions which indicate a zone of high temperature precisely in the region of Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn respectively. Biodiversity of these fruits is highly notable as characteristics, structure, and physiology are quite varying in nature. Growing population all over the world makes enhanced demand for tropical fruits. Owing to the unique flavour, nutritional benefits, and appealing taste these become attractive to consumers. It is observed that there is an increment of 3.8% in terms of the commercialization of the fruits. Categorization of tropical fruits is based on availability, and popularity around the world, major tropical fruits are already known to the world whereas minor and wild categories fruits are less popular. Not only they are consumed as fresh also for preservation and commercialization purposes these are processed to different products for example juice, canned, dried, and frozen products are appreciated. Common families of tropical fruits are Annonaceae, Anacardiaceae, Passifloraceae, and Sapindaceae (Table 2.1-2.2). Processing of some exotic fruits like lychee, passion fruit, mango, pineapple, and durian has gained interest nowadays. The mango (Mangifera indica Linn.) belongs to the Anacardiaceae family. Due to its flavour, taste, and fragrance, it is called the ����King of fruits���� (Nunes et al., 2007). Apart from sensory superiorities mango have a significant amount of bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity. Ripe mango contains high gallic acid and total polyphenols (Danalache et al., 2014 helpful in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer (Alothman et al., 2010).
More than 1000 varieties of mango are being cultivated over the world (Muchiri et al., 2012). India produces 66% of total world mango production and holds the first position (Jahurul et al., 2015). Improper post-harvest management and processing cause more than 30% wastage (Rathore et al., 2007). As mango is a climacteric fruit, irregularity in the time of harvesting, condition of ripening, and absence of appropriate storage facilities affect the price and availability of mango. For the same reason, a large portion of the produce is wasted. Only about 2 % of the total mango produced is processed whereas 20-30% of total production is spoiled which costs about 480 million dollars (FAO, 2019).