In 2010, the Mediterranean diet was nominated a world’s intangible cultural heritage by the UNESCO. This nutritional model emphasizes primarily plant-based foods like fruits. Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) is one of the most important summer crop, and is highly appreciated by consumers for its flavour and sweetness, which are strongly related to the variety and ripening stage. Ripening involves a series of complex biochemical reactions, which lead to the production of healthy compounds, such as polyphenols and carotenoids. As a consequence, to establish the optimal harvest time is a crucial issue, not only to assure the high quality of fruits but also to reduce the variability, which is present in fruit batches. The aim of this work was to study the evolution of quality traits and biochemical profiles of apricots belonging to the new early ripening cultivar Spring blush, and to find a correlation between them and the development of non-destructive indices (i.e. DA-Meter index –IDA- and CIELab coordinates) characterizing the ripening changes in apricot fruit. Fruit quality traits such as firmness, fresh weight, total soluble solids and titratable acidity followed the expected trends during ripening. Biochemical results showed an overall increase in the content of all the phytochemicals analysed during the ripening, although it was characterized by different trends. Polyphenols and flavans were concentrated mainly at 50% veraison, while carotenoids at the ripe stage. Fruit IDA and CIELab coordinates (in particular L* and hab) indicated that these parameters could give interesting information on internal quality factors in apricots at the time of picking as they correlated well with quality traits (i.e. firmness, total soluble solids, etc.) and total carotenoids content. The established relationships between fruit quality traits, nutraceutical potential and non-destructive indices showed the possibility to develop non-destructive methods for simultaneous analysis of pigmentation and other internal properties of single apricots.

Destructive and non-destructive assessment of qualitative and nutraceutical traits of a new early ripening Prunus armeniaca L. cultivar: a relationship to establish the optimal harvest time

ROSATO, TERESA;CIPRIANI, Guido;
2014-01-01

Abstract

In 2010, the Mediterranean diet was nominated a world’s intangible cultural heritage by the UNESCO. This nutritional model emphasizes primarily plant-based foods like fruits. Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) is one of the most important summer crop, and is highly appreciated by consumers for its flavour and sweetness, which are strongly related to the variety and ripening stage. Ripening involves a series of complex biochemical reactions, which lead to the production of healthy compounds, such as polyphenols and carotenoids. As a consequence, to establish the optimal harvest time is a crucial issue, not only to assure the high quality of fruits but also to reduce the variability, which is present in fruit batches. The aim of this work was to study the evolution of quality traits and biochemical profiles of apricots belonging to the new early ripening cultivar Spring blush, and to find a correlation between them and the development of non-destructive indices (i.e. DA-Meter index –IDA- and CIELab coordinates) characterizing the ripening changes in apricot fruit. Fruit quality traits such as firmness, fresh weight, total soluble solids and titratable acidity followed the expected trends during ripening. Biochemical results showed an overall increase in the content of all the phytochemicals analysed during the ripening, although it was characterized by different trends. Polyphenols and flavans were concentrated mainly at 50% veraison, while carotenoids at the ripe stage. Fruit IDA and CIELab coordinates (in particular L* and hab) indicated that these parameters could give interesting information on internal quality factors in apricots at the time of picking as they correlated well with quality traits (i.e. firmness, total soluble solids, etc.) and total carotenoids content. The established relationships between fruit quality traits, nutraceutical potential and non-destructive indices showed the possibility to develop non-destructive methods for simultaneous analysis of pigmentation and other internal properties of single apricots.
2014
9788894004304
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11390/1042178
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