The Influence of Local Habitat and Microclimate on the Levels of Secondary Metabolites in Slovak Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) Fruits

Abstract

The berries of Vaccinium myrtillus L. are usually collected in the wild for the purpose of being a food source. They are naturally high in phenolic compounds, which possess antioxidative properties, so the berries are therefore often labeled as “functional foods”. This study evaluated seven samples of bilberry fruits from different locations in Slovakia for the content of the main phenolic compounds (anthocyanins, flavonoids and tannins) using European Pharmacopoeia 9 spectrophotometric methods. A thorough analysis of environmental factors showed that several phenolic constituents are closely corresponding with their respective environments, as well as with each other. The environmental factors with statistically significant correlations in this study are altitude, habitat type, sunlight exposure, and soil carbon content. Our findings suggest that the berries collected at sunny sites with no topsoil damage contain more phenolic compounds. The lowest amounts of phenolic compounds were found in samples from dense forests or with visible soil erosion and windthrow damage. The negative effect of windthrow damage on the levels of secondary metabolites in bilberry fruits has been described for the first time. This study observed no relationship between the amount of phenolic compounds and soil pH, soil nitrogen levels, or slope exposition.

Plant growth shapes the effects of elevation on the content and variability of flavonoids in subalpine bilberry stands

“…Some growth traits ( e.g . plant age) are expected to stimulate accumulation of particular flavonoid compounds (Julkunen‐Tiitto et al 1996; Zou et al 2019; Vaneková et al 2020), while the role of whole plant growth on phenolic metabolism has been discussed in terms of the carbon–nutrient balance hypothesis (Jones & Hartley 1999; Hamilton et al 2001; Strissel et al 2005). The intensity of plant–plant interactions (also as an expression of competition) has been proved to be a key factor, in principle, for metabolic compounds in shrubs (García‐Cervigón et al 2013; Anadon‐Rosell et al 2016; Casolo et al 2020) and, in general, in woody plants (Olano et al 2006), but specific quantification of the effects on flavonoids has been less investigated (Treutter 2005; Weston & Mathesius 2013; Rockenbach & Rizzardi 2020).…”

“…Although the effect of abiotic factors ( e.g. latitude, soil features) on flavonoid composition of V. myrtillus has been demonstrated (Lätti et al 2008; Rieger et al 2008; Vaneková et al 2020), little is known about the effects of growth traits and plant interactions with changing elevation. Growth traits, such as annual growth and growth rings, have already been used to trace year‐to‐year variations in temperatures (Bär et al 2008; Myers‐Smith et al 2015) or other environmental factors (Rixen et al 2004; Wipf et al 2006; Anadon‐Rosell et al 2014).…”

Valorization of Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) Pomace by Enzyme-Assisted Extraction: Process Optimization and Comparison with Conventional Solid-Liquid Extraction

“…Especially for laboratories that do not have the HPLC analysis capability, the colorimetric technique offers a simple and economical method for anthocyanin determination [ 27 ]. For bilberry and bilberry pomace, similarly to many other fruits, anthocyanin and other secondary metabolite contents largely depend on multiple environmental factors, especially sunlight exposure, altitude, habitat type, and soil carbon content [ 42 ].…”

Influence of Arctic light conditions on crop production and quality

“…The result of Mazur et al (2014) indicated that photoperiodic mechanisms, rather than the received light energy per day, caused the observed differences. In another study on black currants, accumulation of anthocyanins and flavonols increased under natural LD conditions, while under identical light energy conditions, photoperiod had little or no effect on the concentration of phenolic compounds (Woznicki et al, 2016). The levels of delphinidin, peonidin, and petudinin type anthocyanins were higher in bilberries grown under 24 h of light compared with 12 h (Uleberg et al, 2012).…”