Evaluation of fruit quality and antioxidant activity of kiwifruit during ripening and after storage

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In the Northern hemisphere kiwifruit harvest time is conditioned by low temperatures occurring during the harvesting season while in Southern Italy minimum temperatures in autumn are high enough to support fruit growth and ripening. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of delayed harvest time on kiwifruit quality attributes. METHODS: The experiment was carried out in a commercial kiwifruit, 'Hayward', orchard located in Southern Italy. In this area, the conventional harvest time occurs 160 days after full bloom (DAFB), during the first decade of November. Fruits were collected from 130 DAFB to 192 DAFB. Fresh fruit and dry weight, flesh color, firmness, total soluble solids content (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), ascorbic acid (AA), total polyphenols content (TPH) and antioxidant capacity (TAC) were determined. RESULTS: After 120 days of storage, fruit harvested 178 DAFB, had higher fresh and dry weight, flesh firmness, TSS, TA and lower water loss than fruit harvested at 160 DAFB, with no significant differences in AA, TPH and TAC. TAC was correlated more to TPH than to AA. Early (130-158 DAFB) harvests, resulted in poor fruit quality and scarce post harvest maintenance. CONCLUSIONS: Delaying fruit harvest time, in mild winter areas such as Southern Italy, resulted in an improved fruit quality and increased the commercial value of the fruit

The effect of maturation on chemical composition and harvest of fruits of diverse elderberry interspecific hybrids

“…The AA contents of overmature berries ranged from 17.4 to 131 mg 100 g -1 DW, and were 1.43 to 6.21 times lower compared to fully mature berries of the same genotype (Supplemental Table S1). When considering the dynamics of AA during maturation process, our results are in agreement with data reported for acerola (Vendramini and Trugo, 2000), bilberry (Cocetta et al, 2012), apple (Savikin et al, 2014) and kiwifruit (Gullo et al, 2016) where a decrease in AA content in maturing fruits was observed. The decrease in AA content may be explained by the formation of other compounds (3-hydroxy-2-pyron) as a result of oxidative breakdown of AA (Vendramini and Trugo, 2000) or by a decrease in L-galactono-1.…”

Chemopreventive and Therapeutic Effects of Edible Berries: A Focus on Colon Cancer Prevention and Treatment

“…Diversity of berry phenolics is observed in several ways, including: (i) genetic and environmental factors, such as species and variety, cultivation methods, fertilization, weather, ripeness and harvesting season, conditions and time of storage [51,52,53,54,55,56,57]; (ii) chemical structures, ranging from simple single-aromatic ring compounds to large complex molecules built up from multiple smaller ones [58]; (iii) degree of oxidation and substitution patterns of hydroxylation; (iv) abilities to exist as stereoisomers; (v) glycosylation by sugar moieties and other substituents; and (vi) conjugation to form polymeric molecules [59].…”

Nutraceutical properties of wild berry fruits from Southern Italy

“…Whereas the specific composition of berry fruits depends besides by the species, the variety, degree of ripeness, as well as environmental and climatic conditions [15,25,26], the aim of this study was to evaluate the nutraceutical proprieties of wild and cultivated blackberry and wild elderberry fruits produced in some regions of Southern Italy, such as Basilicata and Campania.…”