Composition and growth of seedless breadfruit Artocarpus altilis naturalized in the Caribbean

• More nutrients in driest season.
• Martinican breadfruit development is in 5 months.
• Growth model of development is sigmoid.
• Starch accumulation starts in 5th week of development.

The breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), was domesticated in Oceania in ancient time, and was naturalized in the tropical Americas at the end of 18th century. It is today a Neglected and Under-utilized crop Species (NUS). This starchy fruit is used as a vegetable in traditional diet. A limited number of studies have examined breadfruit development and its nutritional value. To contribute to breadfruit processing development and thereby increase the globally available food biodiversity, breadfruit assessment has to be performed with modern tools. We studied morphology and analytical features of mature seedless breadfruit grown in Martinique (French West Indies) divided in for climatic areas, and in two seasons. The fruit content in starch, its pH, the pulp palatability, the fruit weight and the peel firmness were different on the season (temperature, rainfall). The growth curve of the fruit was sigmoid and 18 weeks long, with the fruit becoming mature and ready to crop in the 16th week of its development cycle.