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Impact of seasonal variation and growing environment on blackberry aroma

Blackberries have been enjoyed for their delicious flavor and high
nutritional value for hundreds of years. In North America, blackberries were
cultivated since 1850-1860. Blackberries have their characteristic and unique
aromas depending on the cultivar and growing conditions. The objective of this
study was to evaluate the impact of seasonal variation and growing environment on
blackberry aroma.
Volatile compositions of 'Marion' and 'Thornless Evergreen' blackberries
from three growing seasons were analyzed using gas chromatography-flame
ionization detection (GC-FED) and GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Seasonal
variations were observed for some volatile compounds in these two blackberry
cultivars. In 'Marion', the compounds were mainly acids, while in 'Thornless
Evergreen', they were mainly acids, alcohols, and a few terpenoids. Although seasonal variations were present, it was generally observed that the most abundant
volatiles in 'Marion' blackberry were acetic, 2/3-methylbutanoic, hexanoic and
decanoic acids and linalool, whereas the most abundant volatiles in 'Thornless
Evergreen' were 2-heptanol, hexanol, octanol, α-pinene, nopol and/p-cymen-8-ol.
Compared with 'Marion', 'Thornless Evergreen' contained significantly more total
volatiles, especially in alcohols, terpenoids and phenols, whereas 'Marion'
contained more organic acids. Odor Activity Values (OAVs) were used to
determine the most potent odorants in each cultivar. The compounds with high
odor activity values (OAV > 10) in 'Marion' were ethyl hexanoate, β-ionone,
linalool, 2-heptanone, 2-undecanone, α-ionone and hexanal. The compounds with
high odor activity values (OAV > 10) in 'Thornless Evergreen' were ethyl
hexanoate, 2-heptanone, ethyl 2-methylbutanoate, 2-heptanol, 3-methylbutanal, α-pinene,
limonene, p-cymene, linalool, t-2-hexenal, myrtenol, hexanal, 2-
methylbutanal and sabinene.
To investigate the influence of growing environment on blackberry aroma,
aroma extraction dilution analysis (AEDA) was employed to characterize the aroma
profile of 'Chickasaw' blackberries from two growing regions in United States:
Oregon and Arkansas. Eighty-seven odorants were detected in the two berries, in
which seventy-seven could be identified. Comparative AEDA analysis showed that
the berries grown in these two regions had similar aroma compositions, however,
those odorants had various aroma impacts in each region. The compounds with
high FD factors in Oregon's 'Chickasaw' were ethyl butanoate, linalool, methional, trans,cis-2,6-nonadienal, cis-l,5-octadien-3-one, and 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-
3(2H)-furanone, whereas in the 'Chickasaw' grown in Arkansas, they were ethyl
butanoate, linalool, methional, ethyl 2-niethylbutanoate, β-damascenone and
geraniol. The flavor formation in 'Chickasaw' blackberries was largely influenced
by their growing environment. / Graduation date: 2005

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/27200
Date23 February 2005
CreatorsWang, Yuanyuan
ContributorsQian, Michael
Source SetsOregon State University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis/Dissertation

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