Profiles of bioactive compounds in fruits and leaves of strawberry cultivars

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.), the most popular berries grown and consumed all over the world, have a unique composition of bioactive compounds, including polyphenols that determine the quality, nutritional value and sensorial properties of those fruits. The study has provided data suggesting that there are links between the presence of bioactive compounds in strawberry leaves and the presence of those compounds in strawberry fruit. OBJECTIVE: Newly released and standard June-bearing strawberry cultivars (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) were analysed with the aim of evaluating the content of health-related compounds in the fruit and leaves. RESULTS: The cultivars 'Clery' and the newly released 'Joly' are promising due to high levels of bioactive compounds in their fruit. The antioxidant capacity (TEAC) of the leaves was about 15 times higher than the TEAC of the fruit. Total phenolic compounds (TPC) were an important factor influencing the TEAC values of the fruit (r = 0.86). No significant correlation was found between TPC and TEAC in the leaves. The highest levels of bioactive compounds (TPC) were observed in the cultivars 'Selvik', 'Diana' and 'Clery'. In all of the analysed cultivars a high content of agrimoniin in the leaves was correlated with low TPC and TEAC values in the fruit. Additionally, the content of free ellagic acid in the leaves showed a good correlation with the cinnamic acid derivative and ferulic acid hexose derivative in the fruit. CONCLUSIONS: The measurement of the content of agrimoniin and free ellagic acid in strawberry leaves could help breeders to identify cultivars with a high antioxidant capacity and a high content of TPC, cinnamic acid derivatives and ferulic acid hexose derivatives in the fruit without waiting until fructification. The paper discusses this innovative conceptual approach to increasing breeding efficiency.

Nitrogen Fertilization Influences the Quantity, Composition, and Tissue Association of Foliar Phenolics in Strawberries

“…The higher content of glucogallin in proportion with tri-and tetra-galloyl glucose across all N treatments in both cultivars could indicate reduced kinetics of the galloyltransferases compared to glucosyltransferase in the applied N treatment. Across plant species, it has been reported that GT and ET are not simultaneously produced (Salminen and Maarit, 2011) and that strawberry leaves have a higher abundance of ET compared to polymeric GTs (Kim et al, 2016;Kårlund et al, 2016;Michalska et al, 2017). The preferential biosynthesis of ET in strawberry leaves over GT could be due to preferential oxidation of the branch point substrate pentagalloylglucose, as opposed to the formation of a depside bond between the gallic acid subunits.…”

“…In the present study, the decrease in the kaempferol:quercetin ratio with decreases in the N treatment was attributed to an increase in quercetin and not to a decrease in kaempferol. Regardless of the stress factor, quercetin is reported as a more abundant flavonol in strawberry fruits and leaves compared to kaempferol (Kårlund et al, 2016;Michalska et al, 2017). The dihydroxylated flavonol quercetin has higher superoxide radical scavenging activity than the monohydroxylated kaempferol (Marković et al, 2014;Zhang et al, 2015).…”

Physiological, Biochemical, and Biometrical Response of Cultivated Strawberry and Wild Strawberry in Greenhouse Gutter Cultivation in the Autumn-Winter Season in Poland—Preliminary Study

“…The presence of these components determines the quality, nutritional value, and sensorial properties of fruits. The activity of enzymes involved in their biosynthesis is influenced by many environmental factors, particularly by light intensity and light spectrum (red, blue, UVB) [19,56]. Moreover, the biosynthesis of different phenolic compounds depends on the plant genotype and cultivation conditions [57].…”

“…Fruits may vary in terms of the composition of polyphenols depending on the cultivar, growing conditions, and ripeness stage. The dominant group of polyphenols in (wild) strawberry fruit are anthocyanins with pelargonidin-3-glucoside being the major one [19].…”

Molecular genetic analysis of strawberry genotypes for the FaOMT fruit aroma gene

“…Strawberry is one of the most widespread berry crops in the world. Its popularity is due to such traits as early harvest maturity, dessert taste, aroma and rich biochemical composition of the fruit [1,2]. It should be noted that the strawberry breeding is mainly aimed at improving the commercial qualities of fruits, productivity and plant resistance to unfavorable biotic factors, while the improvement of such consumer qualities as the biochemical composition and aroma of fruits was carried out insufficiently, which led to a decrease in these traits in many widely cultivated strawberry varieties [3,4].…”