Volatile profile of Italian and Montenegrine pomegranate juices for geographical origin classification

Abstract

In the present study, we have characterized for the first time the volatile fraction of 20 pomegranate juices from fruits harvested in Northern Italy and southern Montenegro, by means of headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry technique (GC–MS). The volatile profile accounted for 57 compounds belonging mainly to three chemical classes: alcohols, aldehydes and terpenes. Thanks to advance chemometric analysis, the samples were clusterized according to the geographical origin, and the volatiles responsible for differentiation were identified, indicating that the use of volatile profile for discriminating between pomegranate ecotypes grown in different geographical areas is a promising approach. Overall, the chemical information acquired represents a very relevant tool for the retrieval and exploitation of minor varieties and in support of biodiversity of these promising geographical areas for pomegranate cultivation.