Vol. 125 (2012): Proceedings of the Florida State Horticultural Society
Handling & Processing

Gas Chromatography–Olfactometry Analyses of Volatiles Produced by ‘Fallglo’ and ‘US Early Pride’ Tangerines

Clotilde Leclair
USDA–ARS, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Fort Pierce, FL 34945
Anne Plotto
USDA–ARS, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Fort Pierce, FL 34945
Greg McCollum
USDA–ARS, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Fort Pierce, FL 34945
Jinhe Bai
USDA–ARS, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Fort Pierce, FL 34945
Alice Biotteau
USDA–ARS, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Fort Pierce, FL 34945
Elizabeth A Baldwin
USDA–ARS, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Fort Pierce, FL 34945
Jose Reyes-De-Corcuera
University of Florida–IFAS, Citrus Research and Education Center, Lake Alfred, FL 33850
Christian Chervin
Université de Toulouse, ENSAT–INPT, 31326 Castanet, France

Published 2012-12-01

Keywords

  • Citrus reticulata,
  • flavor,
  • aroma volatiles,
  • fruit quality,
  • tangerine

Abstract

‘Fallglo’ is a popular tangerine (Citrus reticulataBlanco) cultivar with high eating quality. However, ‘Fallglo’ may contain as many as 30–40 seeds per fruit. ‘US Early Pride’ is a seedless mutation of ‘Fallglo’ with similar quality attributes. The objective of the current study was to determine if ‘Fallglo’ and ‘US Early Pride’ fruit differed in the composition or quantity of aroma-active volatiles produced over time. Fruit were harvested bi-weekly from October to December. Juice was carefully extracted from 50 fruit, and volatiles were analyzed using gas chromatography (GC). Two subjects evaluated the GC effluents by olfactometry in triplicate runs for each sample. Volatile identification was done by GC-mass spectrometry and confirmed by sniffing of authentic standards. The same 32 aroma-active compounds were perceived in ‘Fallglo’ and ‘US Early Pride’, of which 25 were identified. Compounds were classified in odor descriptor groups: fatty (10 compounds), plastic or rubber (seven compounds), fruity or citrus (four compounds), floral (four compounds), mushroom (two compounds), green (two compounds) and other (one compound). ‘Fallglo’ and ‘US Early Pride’ had similar aroma intensities for the three first harvests (26 Oct., 3 Nov., 17 Nov.), but ‘Fallglo’ had higher levels of two fruity odorous peaks (E-2-pentenal and the coeluting compounds E-2-hexenal and ethyl 2 methyl butanoate) than did ‘US Early Pride’ at the December harvest. The last harvest showed significantly higher aroma intensity for six peaks in each cultivar, with only two peaks in common in both cultivars.