Comparison of Some Morphological Features, Quality and Chemical Content of Four Cultivars of Chokeberry Fruits (Aronia melanocarpa)

Abstract

Two cultivars of chokeberry -'Nero' and Polish 'Galicjanka' are sold in Poland. Sometimes, there are also present the seedlings of 'Viking' and 'Hugin' cultivars. In the experiment some morphological characteristics, the quality of fruits and chemical composition of four chokeberry cultivars ('Galicjanka' , 'Hugin' , 'Nero' , 'Viking') were compared. Chokeberry plants were grown at the Experimental Station of Pomology Department at the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin. Fruits collected from 'Hugin' cultivar shrubs were the smallest (100 fruits weight was 32 g) and the least juice was obtained from them (73.6%); however, they were characterised by the highest content of soluble solids (18.7°Bx), titratable acids (1.05 g), polyphenols (2340 mg), especially cyanidin 3-galactoside as well as nitrates (98.5 mg) and nitrites (1.87 mg). The 'Hugin' cultivar was characterised by light-coloured fruits, and, as a result, by lightcoloured juice. Fruits of 'Galicjanka' cultivar were the biggest, 100 fruits weight was 111,7 g. In fruits of the 'Nero' and 'Viking' cultivars, the content of individual components was at the lowest level. These cultivars have the largest amount of substances colouring fruits, pulp as well as red and blue juices, are also the darkest and the dark juice was obtained from them. Maceration of fruit pulp resulted in a significant change of colour of the juice obtained, it become darker and had a more intense blue colour.

Phenolic Content, Antioxidant Capacity and Quality of Chokeberry (Aronia Melanocarpa) Products

“…Elliott ) belongs to the Rosaceae family, subfamily Maloideae, and is a deciduous shrub originating from the eastern part of North America (4,5) where it has been used for the treatment of cold by native Americans (Abnakians and Potawatomians). Today, chokeberry is also cultivated in Eastern European countries and Russia (6), where it is used for production of homemade or commercial juices, jams, fruit tea, wine and natural food colourants (5,7). It shows high resistance to frost, mechanized harvesting, damage during transportation and cold storage.…”

Effects of Weather Conditions on Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Capacity in Juice of Chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa L.)

“…Physicochemical properties of juices from three different growing seasons are presented in [Ochmian et al, 2012]. Juice SSC should be as low as possible since it determines the limit for the gain in volume decrease when producing fruit concentrates [Jeppsson, 2000].…”

“…Due to these advantages, popularity of chokeberry has raised recently but they are not popularly consumed in fresh and frozen forms. Usually they are used * Corresponding Author: E-mail: tamara.tolic@gmail.com in processed and derived products including juices, wines, jams, jellies and tea [Kulling & Rawel, 2008;Ochmian et al, 2012;Wilkes et al, 2014]. Juice consumers prefer mixture products with other kinds of fruits, such as apple, pear and black currant.…”

Description of plants and assessment of chemical properties of three species from the Amelanchier genus

“…Hence, serviceberry is popularly called sweet chokeberry. The organic acid content in chokeberries ranges from 0.8 g to 1.4 g in 100 g of fruits, depending on the variety (Ochmian et al 2009, Ochmian et al 2012. Fruits of the species under analysis from the Amelanchier genus were characterised by a low vitamin C content, as compared to other berry species.…”

“…The total phenolic acid content of A. alnifolia was 191.4 g fresh fruit and that of A. spicata 209.1 mg/100 g (Sergeeva et al 1980). Fruits studied species of the genus Amelanchier were significantly less rich in polyphenolic compounds than fruit chokeberry (Ochmian et al 2012 b) but contained much more of these compounds than fruit of blue honeysuckle (Ochmian et al 2012). …”