Non-Destructive Assessment of Aroma Volatiles from a Climacteric Near-Isogenic Line of Melon Obtained by Headspace Stir-Bar Sorptive Extraction

Abstract

A climacteric aromatic near-isogenic line (NIL) of melon (Cucumis melo L.) SC3-5-1 contained an introgression of the non-climacteric Korean cultivar “Shongwan Charmi” accession PI 161375 (SC) in the genetic background of the non-climacteric cultivar “Piel de Sapo” (PS). The aroma production was monitored during ripening at 21 °C in intact fruit using headspace sorptive bar extraction (HSSE). Bars were composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and aromas were desorbed and analyzed by gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry. The aromatic profile was composed of 70 aromatic compounds plus 21 alkanes with a predominance of esters, particularly acetate (2-methylbutyl acetate, 2-methylpropyl acetate, hexyl acetate, and phenylmethyl acetate). Some compounds were severely affected by postharvest time. The acetate esters (3-methylbutyl acetate, butan-2-yl acetate and phenylmethyl acetate) decreased with ripening and sulfur-derived compounds (S-methyl butanethioate and S-methyl 3-methylbutanethioate) increased gradually with ripening. A few compounds increased at the senescence phase (propyl ethanoate). Other compounds such as hexadecanoic acid showed a marked decrease after harvest, some decreasing from a relative maximum at harvest (2-methylpropyl hexanoate; n-hexanoic acid; nonanoic acid).

Soft Mango Firmness Assessment Based on Rayleigh Waves Generated by a Laser-Induced Plasma Shock Wave Technique

“…Biochemical methods detect aromatic volatiles and assess ripeness by gas chromatography or an electric nose [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. This approach is not suitable to assess the ripeness of fruit that emits a weak odor.…”

Seasonal effects on flesh volatile concentrations and texture at harvest in a near-isogenic line of melon with introgression in LG X

“…Some authors have claimed that hydrocarbons with a ring structure, such as naphthalene, potentially arise from the degradation of β-carotene (Irigoyen et al, 2007;Baron et al, 2007). Naphthalene was also detected in the aroma profile of the NIL collection (Obando-Ulloa et al, 2010) and the climacteric NIL SC3-5-1 (also containing the introgression of SC, but is classified into linkage groups III and VI; Ríos et al, 2017) at harvest using polydimethylsiloxane stir bar absorption (Fernández-Trujillo et al, 2013).…”

Methodology to Remove Strong Outliers of Non-Climacteric Melon Fruit Aroma at Harvest Obtained by HS-SPME GC-MS Analysis

“…On the other hand, the presence of terpenes or acids is sometimes associated with skin tissue [32], though terpenes have been found at higher levels in PS than in other cultivars [33]. According to our experience and other authors, acids are rarely detected in pulp samples by the HS-SPME test [5,33], but, by using stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), it is possible to detect them as a precursor of aromas in whole PS melons, and also in the pulp of climacteric cultivars [20,34] and in other juices [35].…”

“…LRI were compared with the literature results compiled by NIST [19], although sometimes the LRI data were estimated from the non-polar retention index (n-alkane scale) offered by NIST MS Search 2.0. We also used a profile of melon VOC LRIs (more than 500 compounds) obtained in hundreds of previous analyses using cultivars of different types and the same methodology, and others with HP-5 MS columns [20] (Fernández-Trujillo et al, 2013). A coefficient of variation for LRI was calculated as follows:…”