Kurzbeschreibung
(Englisch)
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Investigations on the effects of cultivar, production systems, physiological status of the plant, harvest period and year on sensory quality parameters and bioactive compounds in berry fruits.
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Partner und Internationale Organisationen
(Englisch)
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AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HR, HU, IE, IL, IT, LT, LV, MK, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK, TR, UK
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Abstract
(Englisch)
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Since recent studies have shown that a diet rich in antioxidant reduces risk of cardiovascular diseases and probably also cancer, strawberries can be considered as an important dietary source because of their high level of vitamin C, anthocyanins and other antioxidant compounds. However, the high variations of fruit parameters like phenolic compounds, vitamin C and antioxidant capacity, as well as sugars and acids at the point of sale have been observed and criticised. The aim of this study was to evaluate the variability in health and taste quality traits in strawberry fruits by assessing several factors, such as the influence of the genotype, role of the environment, harvest period, fruit position on the inflorescence and number of days from flowering to full ripeness on fruit quality parameters. The results of this project revealed that the choice of the cultivar turns out to be the most important factor to influence health and taste promoting compounds in strawberry fruits. In the future, there are promissing possibilities to increase health related compounds, as well as taste related ones in strawberry fruits because of the high variability of the contents of these compounds among existing cultivars. Health related compounds were more affected by the year than by the production site. However, this response depended on cultivars. Since response to environemental conditions depends on the cultivar, genotype stability seems an effective way to reduce variation induced by unpredictable year specific climate conditions. In this study the cultivars Clery, Manille and Asia showed the greatest stability over the years and the environments in their antioxidant capacity. Health related compounds of the strawberries remained stable over the harvest periods and were neither influenced by fruit size nor by fruit order. However, fruits with a slower development from flowering to harvest appeared to accumulate more anthocyanins. In conclusion, the obtained results confirmed that all the analysed parameters were strongly influenced by the genotype. Environmental factors and production systems had in general a lower impact on taste and health related compounds. Further research is needed to better understand how to manipulate plant physiological aspects in order to stimulate biosynthetic pathways.
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