Abstract
This study investigated the composition of volatile compounds in two pummelo cultivars, including ‘Shatian’ and ‘Guanxi’, cultivated in different regions of China with the aim of studying the effect of cultivar and cultivation condition on biosynthesis of volatile compounds in pummelo. Volatile compounds were extracted from pummelo juice using head-space microextraction and then analyzed using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Results showed that a total of 49 volatile compounds was detected in the study, including 11 aldehydes, 7 alcohols, 3 ketones, 7 esters, 19 terpenes and 2 other volatiles. The ‘Guanxi’ pummelo cultivar possessed a more complex composition of volatile compounds compared with the ‘Shatian’ cultivar. Meanwhile, the volatile compounds appeared to exhibit a higher concentration in the ‘Guanxi’ cultivar samples than the ‘Shatian’ cultivar. Cluster analysis revealed that the ‘Guanxi’ cultivar samples from the different regions were grouped together, whereas the ‘Shatian’ cultivar samples were assembled. Principal component analysis showed that an obvious separation was observed between the ‘Guanxi’ and ‘Shatian’ cultivar. However, the ‘Shatian-SC15’ was significantly separated from the other ‘Shatian’ cultivar samples. These indicated that cultivar genotype was the primary factor that determined the volatile profile of the pummelo cultivar. Cultivation region might affect the biosynthesis of volatile compounds, resulting in the differentiation of the volatile composition in each pummelo cultivar.
Highlights
Volatile compounds are important secondary metabolites biosynthesized in fruits
The objective of this study was to elucidate the effect of cultivar genotype and cultivation condition on the volatile composition of pummelo fruits, which could provide useful information on pummelo cultivation management and optimization and bring knowledge to pummelo cultivar breeding development
The similar fruit weight was observed in the different regions for harvested ‘Guanxi’
Summary
Volatile compounds are important secondary metabolites biosynthesized in fruits. These secondary metabolites play important roles in determination of the overall aroma of fruits [1,2,3]. Free volatile compounds are initially accumulated in fruits under a series of enzymatic reactions and further conjugated with the sugar moiety to yield bound volatiles [4]. The sugar moiety in bound volatile compounds enhances the accumulation of volatile compounds in fruits due to their improved solubility, these glycosidically-conjugated volatiles cannot directly contribute to the overall aroma of fruits since moiety conjugation results in these metabolites with odorless properties [4,5]. It is free volatile compounds that play the essential roles in contributing their flavor notes to the fruit aroma [4]
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