CHANGES IN BIOPHYSICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CRANBERRY (VACCINIUM MACROCARPON AIT.) FRUIT DURING GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

‘Searles’ cranberry fruits were harvested at various stages of maturity from July to September and sorted according to their color and size.
Fruits were analyzed for their ethylene production, respiration, dry weight, cell wall content, anthocyanin content, chlorophyll content, soluble proteins, membrane proteins, polar lipid fatty acid composition and freeing stress resistance (FSR).

There was no climacteric rise in respiration at the time of an increase in ethylene production and an increase in anthocyanin content.
The % dry weight was fairly constant throughout the sampling period.
The % cell wall decreased sharply in the beginning then at slower rate.
Soluble and membrane proteins decreased in parallel to the loss of chlorophyll.
FSR level increased, as the fruits matured, to reach its maximum level at the red stage.
The changes in fruit color and FSR were related to an overall decrease in the 18:1 and a simultaneous increase in the 18:2 polar lipid fatty acids and a decrease in chlorophyll content.

Our data suggest that (a) cranberry is a nonclimateric fruit, (b) the changes in the fatty acid composition are highly related to the increase in anthocyanin content, (c) the increase in the FSR of the fruit is related to the loss of chlorophyll content and the increase in the unsaturation level of the fatty acid composition.

IV International Symposium on Vaccinium Culture

Ashraf Y. Abdallah, Jiwan P. Palta

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1989.241.62