2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) industry is a rapidly blooming industry in Georgia and across southeastern US. It ranks second after pecan in terms of Georgia fruits and nuts farm gate value, 2016. Its growing popularity is mainly due to its flavor and high antioxidant property. Southern Highbush and Rabbiteye, both native to southeastern US, are the predominant blueberry types in Georgia. However, there lies a subjective perception about fruit quality between these two blueberry types. Often rabbiteye blueberries are considered to have lower fruit quality compared to southern highbush. Fruit quality is an important aspect and can directly impact the market value. One of the important component of fruit quality is flavor. Flavor involves both taste and aroma and has a large impact on consumer acceptability. The main objective of this study is therefore to determine and evaluate flavor volatiles in different cultivars of these two blueberry types. Twelve major blueberry cultivars currently grown in Georgia were collected fresh, six of southern highbush (Emerald, Camellia, Star, Farthing, Sweetcrisp, Legacy) and six of rabbiteye (Vernon, Alapaha, Premier, Powderblue, Brightwell, Austin), directly from the growers from April to July, 2016. They were then packed in coolers and brought to University of Georgia, Griffin Campus, IQF at -15 ^oC until further fruit processing. Four of six rabbiteye cultivars were frozen samples. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was then used to determine flavor volatiles present in each blueberry varieties. All the varieties were examined for 11 volatile compounds; 5 of which contribute to blueberry flavor (geraniol, linalool, cis-3-hexen-1-ol, trans-2-hexenol, and trans-2-hexenal) and rest 6 commonly found in Vaccinium spp. (hexenal, limonene, nerol, 1,8-cineole, 1-penten-3-ol, and terpineol,). Relative concentration of each volatiles were determined and the data were analyzed using ANOVA in SAS software at p-value <0.05. ‘Premier’, ‘Vernon’, ‘Alapaha’, and ‘Brightwell’ had significantly higher relative concentration of most of the volatiles compared to the rest. None of the cultivars contained ‘cis-3-hexen-1-ol’ and ‘1-penten-3-ol’ from one of those five and six compounds respectively. In comparison of blueberry types, rabbiteye had significantly higher amount of most of the volatiles compared to southern highbush except for ‘geraniol’ and ‘trans-2-hexenol’ (insignificant). Results indicate that rabbiteye type has more blueberry flavor compared to southern highbush.

Keywords: Specialty crop, fruit crop, flavor profile