The Chemical Composition of the Berries of Species and Interspecific Hybrids of Red Cur-Rant in Culture

Abstract

Red currant is a valuable food and medicinal plant widely used in industrial and amateur gardening. 
 The aim of this article is a summary of results of a multi-year research of the chemical composition of fruits of red currant wild-growing species and natural interspecific hybrids of different geographical origin and assessment of a possibility of use of the selections to produce interspecific hybrids.
 Biochemical study of dry substance, ascorbic acid, sugars, acids, anthocyans, catechins, pectins and protopectins in red currant berries was carried out. The analyses of the chemical composition were performed by the universally accepted procedures.
 The levels of variability of 8 biochemical characters of red berry fruits depending on conditions of a year were established. It was shown that the most stable biochemical character was content of dry substance in berries and the most variable one – content of catechins. More ascorbic acid accumulates in berries of Ribes atropurpureum from the Salair Ridge in comparison with the amount in berries of R. atropurpureum from the Altai Mountains. By the complex of biochemical characters of prime interest are R. atropurpureum and hybrid R. atropurpureum × R. altissimum, and by the content of dry substance, sugars and catechins – hybrid R. atropurpureum × R. vulgare. The selections are a source of 1-5 outstanding biochemical characters and promising for the use in breeding. The interspecific hybrids of red currant obtained in CSBG by the use of selections testify to the possibility of production of high yield, large-fruited cultivars with a high content of biologically active substances in berries.

Evaluation of the growth, drought tolerance and biochemical compositions of introduced red currant cultivars and Russian breeding genotypes in temperate continental climate

“…The balance of sugar to organic acids is important for describing the flavour characteristics of the fruits (Battino and Mezzetti, 2006;Talcott, 2007). Similar results were noted by Gorbunov and Kukushkina (2019) for some red currant genotypes which had a complex hybrid origin, i.e. as a result of crossing the species forms of red currants R. vulgare, R. rubrum and R. petraeum.…”

Varieties and antioxidant indices of red currant of Chelyabinsk breeding in the conditions of the Middle Urals

“…Она нетребовательна в уходе, дает ежегодные обильные урожаи, насаждения ее более долговечны по сравнению со смородиной черной [4]. Ягоды смородины красной содержат большое количество биологически активных веществ: аскорбиновую и фолиевую кислоты, биотин, водорастворимые биофлаваноиды, катехины, пектиновые и дубильные вещества [5,6,7], кумарины [8], макро-и микроэлементы [9]. [11,12,13].…”