Food Research Institute

Průchová, K. – Podskalská, T. – Kružík, V. – Kouřimská, L. – Sus, J. – Čížková, H.
Volatile compounds and selected qualitative parametres of apples from organic and integrated farming – can we evaluate the difference?
Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, 61, 2022, No. 1, s. 89-105

Karolina Pruchova, Department of Food Preservation, Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 3, 16628 Prague 6, Czech Republic. E-mail: Karolina.Pruchova@vscht.cz

Received 14 May 2021; 1st revised 18 September 2021; 2nd revised 9 November 2021; 3rd revised 12 January 2022; accepted 12 January 2022; published online 10 March 2022.

The online version of this article contains supplementary data.

Summary: The more the shops are flooded by apples from organic and integrated farming, the more the desire of markets and consumers to confirm the way of their treatment grows. The question how to distinguish between organic and integrated production inspired this research. Differences between apples from organic and integrated farming were investigated by optimized headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Together 34 samples representing 10 apple cultivars from 6 locations in the Czech Republic, 2 production systems and 2 harvest years were analysed. Approximately 70 volatile compounds were detected, 45 of them were chosen for statistical processing, 33 were identified. The highest contents were observed for 1-butanol, 2-methyl 1-butanol and 1-hexanol. Higher soluble solids values of 10 apple varieties noticed in 2015 harvest compared to 2016 indicated possible connection to 2015 dry seasonal conditions. In contrast, higher acidity was obviously related to cultivars Topaz, Melodie and Ontario. Anyhow, the distinction between organic and integrated production was not noticed for 2015 varieties but, for 2016, a shift towards production system differentiation was observed. Differences between seasonal conditions of harvest years 2015 and 2016 probably represented the main limiting factor for distinction between apples from organic and integrated farming.

Keywords: apple; volatile compound; organic; integrated; gas chromatography; multivariate analysis

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