Sugar and Biochemical Composition of Some Apple Cultivar Grown in the Middle Black Sea Region

Abstract

Changes in ecological conditions in Turkey are among the rare countries where most plant species spread widely throughout the country, both economically and naturally. In this study on apple, which is one of the important fruit species with economic importance, the color characteristics, biochemical and sugar contents of some commercial apple cultivars grown in Çarşamba district of Samsun province were examined. Wide variations occurred in all parameters evaluated in the study among the cultivars. The fructose content of the cultivars was from 14.22 (Royal Gala) to 34.40 g 100 ml-1 (Fuji), glucose content was from 1.30 (Galaxy Gala) to 4.34 g 100 ml-1 (Fuji), and sucrose content were varied from 2.01 (Fuji) to 4.52 g 100 ml-1 (Granny Smith). The highest value in total sugar content was determined in Fuji cultivar with 40.75 g 100 ml-1. The highest total phenolics, total flavonoids and antioxidant activity (according to DPPH and FRAP) were 423.7 mg 100 g-1 (Granny Smith), 96.1 mg 100 g-1 (Fuji), 250.8 µmol 100 g-1 (Granny Smith) and 952.9 µmol 100 g-1 (Granny Smith), respectively. In the principal component analysis results, the first component was associated with a*, b*, hue angle, total phenolics, total flavonoids and antioxidant activity (DPPH and FRAP) and explained 59.4% of the total variation. The second component explained 36.4% of the total variation of the obtained data and was determined to be related to L*, chroma, glucose, sucrose, fructose, and total sugar properties. As a result, Granny Smith cultivar gave remarkable results in terms of biochemical properties and Fuji cultivar in terms of sugar content. It is thought that the results obtained may guide the researches to be made about apple in this region.