Discrimination of 11 Malaysian Durian Cultivars Based on Sulfur-Containing Volatiles and Esters Using Multivariate Data Analysis

Abstract

There are reports documenting the volatile oils of several durian cultivars in Malaysia. However, there is limited information on the rapid discrimination of the durian cultivars based on the composition of the total volatiles and individual volatile compounds. Thus, the present work aims to discriminate 11 Malaysian durian cultivars based on their volatile compositions using multivariate data analysis. Sulfur-containing volatiles are the major volatiles in D175 (Udang Merah), D88 (Darling), D13 (Golden Bun), DXO (D24 Special), D17 (Green Bamboo), D2 (Dato Nina), and D168 (Hajah Hasmah) durian cultivars, while esters are predominant in D99 (Kop Kecil), D24 (Bukit Merah), and D160 (Musang Queen) durian cultivars. D197 (Musang King) cultivar has an almost equal composition of sulfur-containing volatiles and esters. In the ester predominated volatile durian oil, ethyl 2-methylbutanoate and propyl 2-methylbutanoate are the major volatile compounds, while the durian cultivars with predominant sulfur-containing volatiles mainly contain diethyl disulfide, diethyl trisulfide, and 3,5-dimethyl-1,2,4-trithiolane. The durian cultivars were clustered into 8 clusters using principal component analysis, with 3 clusters consisting of 2 cultivars, and with the remaining cultivars clustered individually. The highly sought-after durian cultivars, D160 and D197, were clustered into one. Hierarchal clustering analysis identified the distinct compounds which discriminate every durian cultivar.