Fruit quality of Japanese, Kuril and Russian blue honeysuckle (Lonicera caerulea L.) germplasm compared to blueberry, raspberry and strawberry

Abstract

Blue honeysuckle (Lonicera caerulea L.) is a novel, niche-market fruit because of its tart flavours, unique aroma profiles and abundant antioxidants. Commercial crop development requires improved biochemical traits to promote wide-spread market acceptance. Key foundation germplasm groups from Russia, Japan and the Kuril Islands were compared with three mainstream fruit crops (highbush blueberry, red raspberry and June-bearing strawberry) to characterize selected biochemical traits, including total soluble solids (TSS) and titratable acidity (TA), in a temperate climate over two years (2012, 2013) in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada. Biochemical diversity associated with commercially-desirable fruit quality varied across foundation groups, providing genetic resources required to improve several fruit quality traits. There was greater variability in dry matter and TSS:TA in the Russian and Japanese groups, respectively, and these groups had similar diversity in TSS, TA and pH. Blue honeysuckle possessed important variability in TSS:TA, meaning that overly tart fruit tastes are not an absolute limitation to wide-spread consumption. The Japanese group had low TSS:TA despite high TSS, and the Russian group had high TSS:TA despite low TSS. Diversity in TSS:TA is more directly related to differences in TA than TSS. Reducing TA will effectively improve TSS:TA, contributing to desirable fruit quality and market acceptance.