Articles
Soluble solid assessment of California Prunus domestica germplasm
Article number
1260_35
Pages
221 – 228
Language
English
Abstract
The California Prunus domestica growers and processors promote dried plums as a natural way to achieve digestive regularity without the use of probiotics or synthetic laxatives.
The dietary fibre and natural sorbitol content of prune fruit are some of the cornerstones of the prune industrys domestic marketing strategy.
Because of the importance of sorbitol, the prune breeding program at the University of California, Davis has begun to evaluate the fruit sugar and sorbitol profiles in its germplasm.
Glucose, sucrose, fructose, and sorbitol contents were analysed on fruit from 224 genotypes over two years; 84 were from the programs germplasm collection, 30 were a product of one controlled cross (D2N-76 × Muir Beauty), and 107 were a product of another separate controlled cross (D6N-103 × MuirBeauty). Total sugars as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) ranged from 9-26.3 g 100 g-1 over two years of analysis; glucose, fructose, sucrose, and sorbitol ranged from 1.6-10.5, 0.3-5.0, 0.4-13.3, and 0.8-9.8 g 100 g-1, respectively.
Titratable acidity and pH were also tested on a majority of the fruit each year and ranged between 0.231-2.060 and 3.186-4.790, respectively (n=211 per year). The data indicate that most currently used cultivars have high concentrations of sorbitol but there appears to be the potential to increase it by traditional breeding techniques using currently available germplasm.
The dietary fibre and natural sorbitol content of prune fruit are some of the cornerstones of the prune industrys domestic marketing strategy.
Because of the importance of sorbitol, the prune breeding program at the University of California, Davis has begun to evaluate the fruit sugar and sorbitol profiles in its germplasm.
Glucose, sucrose, fructose, and sorbitol contents were analysed on fruit from 224 genotypes over two years; 84 were from the programs germplasm collection, 30 were a product of one controlled cross (D2N-76 × Muir Beauty), and 107 were a product of another separate controlled cross (D6N-103 × MuirBeauty). Total sugars as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) ranged from 9-26.3 g 100 g-1 over two years of analysis; glucose, fructose, sucrose, and sorbitol ranged from 1.6-10.5, 0.3-5.0, 0.4-13.3, and 0.8-9.8 g 100 g-1, respectively.
Titratable acidity and pH were also tested on a majority of the fruit each year and ranged between 0.231-2.060 and 3.186-4.790, respectively (n=211 per year). The data indicate that most currently used cultivars have high concentrations of sorbitol but there appears to be the potential to increase it by traditional breeding techniques using currently available germplasm.
Authors
S.B. Castro, T.M. DeJong
Keywords
prunes, sorbitol, acidity, sucrose
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