Effects of Some Practices of Citrus Postharvest Management on Fruits Quality and Aromatic Fingerprint
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Dottorato Internazionale in Frutticoltura Mediterranea Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie e Forestali Settore Scientifico Disciplinare AGR/03 EFFECTS OF SOME PRACTICES OF CITRUS POSTHARVEST MANAGEMENT ON FRUITS QUALITY AND AROMATIC FINGERPRINT IL DOTTORE IL COORDINATORE Dr. Maria Cupane Prof. M.A. Germanà IL TUTOR IL CO TUTOR Prof. M.A. Germanà Dr. P.L. San Biagio CICLO XXV ANNO CONSEGUIMENTO TITOLO 2015 2 Preface The citrus flavor is one of the most attractive and recognized flavors worldwide, and it is one of the major characteristics able to influence the consumer acceptance. The main objective of this research work is to investigate the relation among flavor, chemical characteristics and postharvest management. This thesis is organized in two parts: the first one is a short state of art of citrus and the second one represents the experimental part of the work carried out during the three years of my PhD program. More precisely, the first chapter contains the citrus world’s economic situation, and an overview on the physico-chemical composition of citrus fruits and juices. A small review of the most popular varieties cultivated in Sicily, with particular regard to traditional cultivars, will be also presented. Considering the extent of these arguments, only major characteristics will be highlighted. In the second chapter, the main theme of the thesis will be discussed. Citrus flavor will be approached from the chemical point of view, as the chemical classes that contribute to the overall aroma. Then, its relation with post harvest management will be analyzed. Regarding the experimental part, first the motivational approach and the main objectives of the experiments conducted will be explained. Then, the methods and the techniques applied will be described. The first experiment is focused on three lemon traditional varieties cultivated in Sicily. Different part of the experiment investigates different characteristics, mainly aromatic pattern and antioxidant properties, of lemon juices. These experiments were carried out thanks to the collaboration with the Research Center for Citrus and Mediterranean crops (CRA – ACM) and with the RoccaCoop that provided the fruits and collaborated with me making available their habits in citrus postharvest management. The second experiment was done in Spain, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The leitmotif of this experience was to evaluate the aromatic pattern of Salustiana oranges, focusing on different postharvest treatments. 3 Moreover, in this work an instrumental comparison between two different Electronic Nose instruments was performed. This experiment were carried out thanks to the Emilio Esteve farm, in Xeraco in the region of Valencia, that kindly provided the fruits and the methods to perform the experimental conditions. Finally, the global results of the work and the general conclusions will be presented. 4 Index Preface ......................................................................................................................... 3 Part I ............................................................................................................................. 7 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 8 1.1 Citrus: Production and Consumption ................................................................ 8 1.2 Citrus: Varieties cultivated in Italy ................................................................. 10 1.3 Citrus fruit morphology and ripening ............................................................. 14 1.4 Citrus Bioactive Compounds .......................................................................... 18 2. CITRUS FLAVOR ............................................................................................. 23 2.1 Factors Affecting Citrus Flavor ...................................................................... 26 2.1.1 Pre harvest handling, genotype and harvest time ........................................ 27 2.1.2 Post harvest handling .................................................................................. 27 3. FLAVOR ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES ............................................................. 32 3.1 Extraction Techniques .................................................................................... 32 3.2 Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry ................................................... 34 3.2.1 Principles of Gas Chromatography ............................................................. 34 3.2.2 Principles of Mass Spectrometry ................................................................ 36 3.3 Electronic Nose ............................................................................................... 37 3.3.1 Sensors description...................................................................................... 38 3.3.2 Instruments description ............................................................................... 39 3.3.2.1 EOS835 ....................................................................................................... 40 3.3.2.2 Multisensory Odor Olfactory System – MOOSY32 ................................... 42 Part II ......................................................................................................................... 46 1. GENERAL OBJECTIVES ................................................................................. 47 2. EXPERIMENT 1: ............................................................................................... 49 Postharvest life and aroma quality of three lemon cultivars grown in Sicily ............ 49 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 49 2.2 Materials and Methods .................................................................................... 50 2.3 Results and Discussion ................................................................................... 54 2.4 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 69 3. EXPERIMENT 2: ............................................................................................... 71 Application of a new electronic nose instrument to assess the effects of some postharvest treatments on the quality of ‘Salustiana’ orange juice ........................... 71 5 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 71 3.2 Materials and Methods .................................................................................... 73 3.3 Results and Discussion ................................................................................... 77 3.4 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 89 4. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................ 90 5. Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................... 92 6. Appendix 2 ......................................................................................................... 94 7. Acknowledgments ............................................................................................ 100 8. Scientific skills ................................................................................................. 101 8.1 List of paper and reports ............................................................................... 101 8.2 Stage and Collaborations .............................................................................. 101 8.3 Seminar participations .................................................................................. 102 References ................................................................................................................ 103 6 Part I 7 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Citrus: Production and Consumption Citrus are the most widely cultivated fruit crops and rank first in the world fruits production (FAOSTAT2012). Citrus are cultivated in more than 50 countries worldwide, and their production grew enormously during the last four decades of the twentieth century reaching in 2011 almost 9 million ha of growing areas and a production of about 130 million tons (FAOSTAT2012). Due to their need of a temperate climate, the mayor producer countries are located in the tropical and subtropical regions, with the Mediterranean region ranking around 20% of the world citrus production. The main producer countries are China, Brazil, USA, and Mexico (CLAM, 2007; Liu et al., 2012; Youseif et al., 2014). In all these countries the cultivated area has been almost constant in the last ten years, with a slight increase in the total production. China is the only country in which, compared with a slight increase in cultivated area, there has been a more than doubling of production (Calabrese, 2009). Among the Mediterranean regions Italy and Spain are the main contributors to citrus production, with a harvested area of 168.802,00 ha and 317.605,00 ha respectively (FAOSTAT20212). Italy is the second citrus producer in the Mediterranean region and it produces around 4% of the world orange and lemon crops (Schimmenti, 2009; Baldi, 2011). Like in the other producer countries, in the last 10 years there was a slight decrease in total citrus area, mainly due to the abandoning of orchards, the lack of organization, the increasing of input