Segregation of Blackberry Cultivars Based on the Fruit Physico- Chemical Attributes

Abstract

Blackberries are considered as a rich source of phyitochemicals with high nutraceutical value and beneficial health effects. The objective of this work was to determine the berry size and composition status of blackberry cultivars grown under Serbian conditions. Fresh berries of seven blackberry cultivars (‘Black Satin’, ‘Dirksen Thornless’, ‘Chester Thornless’, ‘Thornfree’, ‘Čačanska Bestrna’, ‘Loch Ness’ and ‘Navaho’) were used as a plant material during two growing seasons. According to the results, the highest berry size was found in ‘Čačanska Bestrna’ and ‘Loch Ness’, dry matter (DM) and titratable acidity (TA) in ‘Chester Thornless’ and pH value in ‘Dirksen Thornless’ cultivars. The highest content of soluble solids (SSC), sugars content, SSC/TA rate and total sugars (TS)/TA rate was observed in ‘Navaho’, and mineral mater (MM) in ‘Loch Ness’ and ‘Chester Thornless’. The highest total phenolics content (TPH) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were found in ‘Black Satin’, total flavonoids content (TFC) in Thornfree, and ascorbic acid (AA) in ‘Loch Ness’. Based on the present results, the strong relationships between some phytochemicals, especialy between bioactive compunds, were observed. On the basis of principal component analysis (PCA), the cultivars were segregated based on the better quality attributes, which were observed in ‘Navaho’ and ‘Loch Ness’, somewhat in ‘Chester Thornless’ and ‘Black Satin’.

Keywords

• acidity
• antioxidant capacity
• blackberry cultivars