Abstract
Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) fruit consumption has increased over the last 5 years, becoming the second most important soft fruit species after strawberry. Despite the possible economic and sensory impact, the blueberry volatile organic compound (VOC) composition has been poorly investigated. Thus, the great impact of the aroma on fruit marketability stimulates the need to step forward in the understanding of this quality trait. Beside the strong effect of ripening, blueberry aroma profile also varies due to the broad genetic differences among Vaccinium species that have been differently introgressed in modern commercial cultivars through breeding activity. In the present study, divided into two different activities, the complexity of blueberry aroma was explored by an exhaustive untargeted VOC analysis, performed by two complementary methods: SPME-GC-MS (solid phase microextraction- gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) and PTR-ToF-MS (proton transfer reaction-time of flight-mass spectrometry). The first experiment was aimed at determining the VOC modifications during blueberry ripening for five commercially representative cultivars (“Biloxi,” “Brigitta Blue,” “Centurion,” “Chandler,” and “Ozark Blue”) harvested at four ripening stages (green, pink, ripe, and over-ripe) to outline VOCs dynamic during fruit development. The objective of the second experiment was to confirm the analytical capability of PTR-ToF-MS to profile blueberry genotypes and to identify the most characterizing VOCs. In this case, 11 accessions belonging to different Vaccinium species were employed: V. corymbosum L. (“Brigitta,” “Chandler,” “Liberty,” and “Ozark Blue”), V. virgatum Aiton (“Centurion,” “Powder Blue,” and “Sky Blue”), V. myrtillus L. (three wild genotypes of different mountain locations), and one accession of V. cylindraceum Smith. This comprehensive characterization of blueberry aroma allowed the identification of a wide pull of VOCs, for the most aldehydes, alcohols, terpenoids, and esters that can be used as putative biomarkers to rapidly evaluate the blueberry aroma variations related to ripening and/or senescence as well as to genetic background differences. Moreover, the obtained results demonstrated the complementarity between chromatographic and direct-injection mass spectrometric techniques to study the blueberry aroma.
Highlights
The quality of fruits has to be considered as a central trait to address consumer appreciation and optimize the whole production chain management (Costa et al, 2000; Mowat and Collins, 2000; Benner and Geerts, 2003; Klee, 2010)
More ripe fruits were characterized by a greater deformation due to the applied forces while more unripe fruit had a higher resistance to the forces (F_Min and F_Max) that resulted in a greater area under the deformation curve
Textural differences between ripe and over ripe fruits were not as discernible as for the more unripe ones. Differences between these two classes were magnified by the results of pH, treatable acidity (TA), and total soluble solids (TSS; Supplementary Figure 2)
Summary
The quality of fruits has to be considered as a central trait to address consumer appreciation and optimize the whole production chain management (Costa et al, 2000; Mowat and Collins, 2000; Benner and Geerts, 2003; Klee, 2010). Since aroma involves the perception of a myriad of VOCs, their assessment would be crucial to guarantee the selection and marketability of high-quality fruits. Another aspect to take into account is the interaction of volatile compounds may have with taste in fruits as recently evidenced in apple sweetness perception (Aprea et al, 2017). High priority should be given to replacing poor flavor cultivars with more favorable ones, exploiting the variability already available in nature (Folta and Klee, 2016)
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