Changes in berry quality of northern highbush blueberry(Vaccinium corymbosum L.) during the harvest season

Abstract

As blueberries ripen successively and are commercially harvested over a period of several weeks, their composition may be altered during the harvest. The aim of this study was to compare blueberry fruit composition during the entire harvest season. Fully ripe fruits of two northern highbush blueberry cultivars (Bluecrop and Jersey) were harvested weekly at two different locations. Additionally, the Earliblue cultivar was monitored at a single location. Most of the examined characteristics changed during the harvest season and were cultivar-dependent, with smaller differences observed between sampling locations. Fruit weight of all cultivars decreased with the time of harvest. Levels of total sugars generally increased and total organic acids decreased, making the berries sweeter at the end of the growing period. Moreover, berries harvested later in the season generally contained more total anthocyanins. Total phenolic content generally decreased with successive harvests, mostly due to decreasing contents of total hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives and flavonol glycosides. The results indicate that blueberries harvested at later periods are smaller and contain comparable or increased levels of selected metabolites than larger fruits collected at the beginning of the harvest season.

Chemical Composition of Seed Propagated Chestnut Genotypes from Northeastern Turkey

“…Mert and Erturk (2017) reported the crude fat amount chestnut cultivars ranged from 0.87 to 2.61%. Our results are in accordance with those obtained by Erturk et al (2006) for C. sativa and hybrid cultivars, for Italian cultivars (Sacchetti and Pinnavaia, 2005) and for Spanish cultivars (De La Montana Miguelez et al, 2004 andPereiraLorenzo et al, 2006) Previous studies indicated cultivar/genotype differences on chemical content of fruit species, including stone fruits, nuts, berries and subtropical fruits (Celik et al, 2007;Ercisli, 2009;Ercisli et al, 2010;Erturk et al, 2010;Saridas et al, 2016;Yazici and Sahin, 2016;Zorenc et al, 2016).…”

Physicochemical and Bioactive Characteristics of Wild Grown Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) Genotypes from Northeastern Turkey

“…Pomological features of berries are highly influenced by the species and variety within species and the ecological conditions of the plants Veberic et al, 2015). Despite a great range of researches conducted as comprehensive studies on fruit properties of blueberries (Smolarz, 2006;Beccaro et al, 2006;Celik, 2009;Giovanelli and Buratti, 2009;Zorenc et al, 2016), the knowledge available on bilberries is scarce.…”

Phenolic compounds, bioactive content and antioxidant capacity of the fruits of mulberry (Morus spp.) germplasm in Turkey

“…Fruit species have been used not only for nutrition purposes but also to meet personal and social needs such as curing diseases, beautifying the planet, etc. (Hegedus et al 2010, Canan et al 2016, Sorkheh and Khaleghi 2016, Zorenc et al 2016.…”