Volatile Changes in Cantaloupe during Growth, Maturation, and in Stored Fresh-cuts Prepared from Fruit Harvested at Various Maturities

Abstract

<jats:p>A likely reason why consumers are not repeat buyers of many fresh-cut fruit is inconsistent or unsatisfactory flavor and/or textural quality. Research toward understanding mechanisms responsible for generation, and/or loss of flavor compounds in fresh-cut fruit is limited. Solid phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were utilized to study flavor volatile profiles in anthesis-tagged cantaloupe (<jats:italic>Cucumis melo</jats:italic> L. var. <jats:italic>reticulatus</jats:italic> Naud. cv. Sol Real) during growth, development, and for fresh-cuts prepared from fruit with five distinctly different harvest maturities. One-quarter-slip fruit had a clearly green, well-attached peduncle; 1/2-slip fruit had a distinct abscission detectable at the peduncle, 3/4-slip fruit were approaching commercial harvest, full-slip (FS) fruit are or will cleanly separate from the vine with light pressure; and over-ripeness (OR) was precisely categorized as 2 days past FS. Recovery of total volatiles displayed a linear response and most volatile classes (except aldehydes) generally followed a trend upon processing where FS &gt; 3/4-slip &gt; 1/2-slip &gt; 1/4-slip. On day 0, only 70.0%, 37.7%, and 20.5% total volatiles were recovered in 3/4-slip, 1/2-slip, and 1/4-slip fruit, compared to FS fruit. During fresh-cut storage, percent total esters followed an increasing linear trend that was maturity-dependent. Percent total aromatics and percent aldehydes followed a linear trend that was maturity-dependent whereby 1/4-slip &gt; 1/2-slip &gt; 3/4-slip &gt; FS. During storage, the relative percentage of acetates decreased, and displayed a maturity-dependent curvilinear trend. The magnitude of the slope decreased with maturity, indicating that the effect of storage time decreased as maturity increased. In FS, 3/4-slip, 1/2-slip, and 1/4-slip cubes, acetates comprised 66.9% of all compounds recovered on day 0 yet, only 26.1% to 44.2%, and 21.3% to 32.6% remained on days 9 and 14, respectively. For all maturities, a curvilinear increase in relative percentage of nonacetate esters was observed during storage. There was a uniform change in the ester balance (nonacetate ester:acetate ratio) during fresh-cut storage, which was independent of initial processing maturity. The overall ester ratio changed roughly 2-fold after just 2 days in optimum storage, and after 5 days it increased more than 3-fold. The shift in endogenous ester compounds could be partially responsible for the apparent loss of characteristic flavor in fresh-cut cantaloupe through long-term storage.</jats:p>

Aroma profile of a collection of near-isogenic lines of melon (Cucumis melo L.)

“…In this collection, aldehydes are present in between 15-40% relative levels of the total aroma of the profile, and hexanal shows the highest relative content with respect to other aldehydes, in agreement with previous results working with PS and other non-climacteric NILs with introgression in LG III (Obando-Ulloa et al, 2008). Hexanal is considered to contribute to green notes and, secondarily, to melon aroma, and benzaldehyde has been defined as a pleasant aroma for Cantaloupe type melons (Beaulieu, 2006;Beaulieu & Grimm, 2001), and high concentrations are usually associated with a high degree of melon ripening (Beaulieu & Grimm, 2001). Also, it is not unlikely that the unsaturated aldehyde fraction and, particularly, hexanal, may be due to lipid peroxidation during sampling and freezing (Ma et al, 2007).…”

“…The results of the volatile analyzes were expressed as percentage of total chromatographic area of the 28 volatile compounds of the profile reported in Table 2 (Muriel, Antequera, Petrón, Andrés, & Ruiz, 2004). These compounds were recovered and positively identified within the run time (Beaulieu, 2005(Beaulieu, , 2006Muriel et al, 2004). Table 1 Mean relative content of the probable aromatic compounds identified in the headspace of the fruit of the collection of near-isogenic lines (NILs) of melon and the parental line 'Piel de sapo' (PS).…”

“…13). These aroma volatile compounds change during fruit ripening, particularly in climacteric fruit, because many of them are ethylene-dependent (Beaulieu, 2006;ObandoUlloa et al, 2008;Pech et al, 2008, chap. 13).…”

Quantification of prominent volatile compounds responsible for muskmelon and watermelon aroma by purge and trap extraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry determination

“…However, many volatile analytes in the vapour phase of this kind of sample are often present in too low concentrations (Beltran et al, 2006). Beaulieu and Grimm (2001) and Beaulieu (2006b) extensively analysed melon aroma using solid-phase microextraction (SPME), reporting and verifying 25 of the aforementioned compounds for the first time in cantaloupe melons. Since then, several studies reported SPME as a good semi-quantitative methodology for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in several vegetal samples including muskmelon (Kourkoutas et al, 2006;Verzera et al, 2011).…”

“…Until now, around 300 volatile compounds have been identified in muskmelon and watermelon samples (Beaulieu & Grimm, 2001;Beaulieu & Lancaster, 2007;Beaulieu & Lea, 2006;Beaulieu, 2006aBeaulieu, , 2006bHomatidou, Karvouni, Dourtoglou, & Poulos, 1992;Itrat, 2006;Jordán, Shaw, & Goodner, 2001;Kourkoutas, Elmore, & Mottram, 2006;Liu et al, 2012;Obando-Ulloa & Moreno, 2008;Obando-Ulloa & Ruiz, 2010;Perry, Wang, & Lin, 2009;Saftner, Abbott, Lester, & Vinyard, 2006;Verzera, Dima, Tripodi, & Ziino, 2011). Due to the important role of volatile components in organoleptic quality of foods and beverages, these compounds have been widely studied and analytical methodologies for their determination in fruit matrices are continuously being developed, including both GC (Beaulieu, Ingram, Lea, & Bett-Garber, 2004;Beaulieu & Lancaster, 2007;Beaulieu & Lea, 2006;Gonda et al, 2010;Kemp, 1975;Kourkoutas et al, 2006;Liu et al, 2012) and GC-O (Jordán et al, 2001;Lignou, Parker, Baxter, & Mottram, 2014) …”