Breakthrough Analysis of Chemical Composition and Applied Chemometrics of European Plum Cultivars Grown in Norway

Abstract

The aim of this study was to find the chemical parameters for the differentiation of plum cultivars grown along the fjord areas of Western Norway and Eastern Norway, having specific agroclimatic conditions. Chemical analysis of the fruits confirmed the contents of 13 quantified elements, 22 sugar compounds, 11 organic acids, 19 phenolic compounds, and antioxidant activity in 68 plum cultivars. Dominated contents were noted for nitrogen (with the maximum mean value of 3.11%), potassium (8055.80 mg/kg), and phosphorous (7878.88 mg/kg). Averagely, the highest level of sugars was determined for glucose (244.46 g/kg), fructose (197.92 g/kg), sucrose (208.25 g/kg), and sorbitol (98.02 g/kg), organic acids for malic acid (24.06 g/kg), and for polyphenol compounds were 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid (66.31 mg/kg), and rutin (58.06 mg/kg). Applied principal component analysis has been useful for distinguishing the plum cultivars from three areas in Norway where copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, and sodium; sucrose, ribose, maltose, and raffinose; p-hydroxybenzoic acid, rutin, ferulic acid, kaempferol 7-O-glucoside, p-coumaric acid, and 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid were the most influential. In regard to human health and future breeding work that will have the aim to produce functional food with high health-related compounds, the plum cultivar ‘Mallard’ should be underlined due to the high level of elements, ‘Valor’ due to high sugar content, ‘Helgøyplomme’ due to content of organic acids, and ‘Diamond’ due to the content of phenolic compounds.

Profiling of Metabolites in Organically Grown Plums from Norway: Does Location or Cultivar Matter?

“…On the other hand, the proportion of malic acid was between 5.96% (UM1) and 30.06% (TA1). The results obtained in this study are in accordance with the results from our previous work [6]. Samples from the Ullensvang area showed higher contents of quinic acid, citric acid, and maleic acid than samples from the Telemark area, which contained higher contents of shikimic acid, galacturonic acid, fumaric acid, and malic acid.…”

“…Plums from Ullensvang had higher TPC and RSA values, while Valor had the highest TPC value and Jubileum had the highest RSA value. The results obtained are in fairly close agreement with the Norwegian plums analyzed by Fotirić Akšić and co-authors [6], together with those investigated in other studies [73,85].…”

“…The average organic acid content in plums from the Telemark area was 9.95 g/kg dw, while the average organic acid content in plum samples from the Ullensvang area was 11.40 g/kg. From the results, it can be concluded that Norwegian plums are generally more acidic, which is consistent with the literature [6,33]. Regardless of the location, the cultivar Jubileum had the highest acidity (13.56 g/kg dw), and Avalon had the lowest (8.17 g/kg dw).…”

“…Plum (Prunus domestica) is one of the most attractive fruit species in temperate zones as it has a high economic yield and is very popular with both producers and consumers due to its exceptional aroma, taste, and color. The fruit can be eaten fresh but is also dried or processed into brandy, preserves, compotes, mousses, pulp, candied fruit, wine, jams, and jelly products [6]. It is considered a respectable source of nutrients due to the content of minerals (K, P, Ca, Mg, Na, B, Se, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu), vitamins (A, B, E, C, K), sugars (fructose, sucrose, glucose, sorbitol), organic acids (citric acid, malic acid), dietary fiber, phenolics (flavonoids and phenolic acids), aromatic compounds (benzaldehyde, linalool, ethyl nonanoate), and then tannins, enzymes, and proteins [7,8].…”

Genetic Characterization of European Plum (Prunus domestica L.) Accessions from Norway Using ECPGR-Selected SSR Markers

“…In a chapter within the 2006 report by the ECPGR (European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources) Prunus working group, Sekse [8] identified a total of nine collections containing accessions of fruit trees in Norway. Furthermore, the report stated that these collections contain, among other fruit crops, 49 different plum cultivars (mainly P. domestica as well as some P. salicina) with different pomological and qualitative characteristics, as proven by Fotirić Akšić et al [9]. This program has recently expanded and currently, there are 12 collections containing a total of 79 accessions in Norway [10].…”