Volatile Profiles of Apricot Cultivars (Prunus armeniaca Lam.) Evaluated by Head Space Solid Phase Microextraction Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

The volatile compounds of 85 regional apricot cultivars native to China were characterized by headspace-solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. A total of 156 volatile compounds were tentatively detected, 62 of which were identified in apricots for the first time. The composition and concentration of the volatile compounds varied greatly among the cultivars, with the number of individual compounds per cultivar ranging from 39 to 85, at concentrations of 9.0 to 296.5 mg/kg fresh weight. The apricots from northwest China had the highest concentrations of volatile compounds, while those from the southwest had the lowest concentrations. Based on principal component analysis, the cultivars were divided into four groups characterized by their volatile profiles: 1) terpenoids; 2) aldehydes; 3) terpenoids and aldehydes; and 4) an absence of characteristic volatiles. The greatest diversity of volatile compounds was found in cultivars from northwest China, while the diversity diminished progressively for the cultivars of north, northeast, and southwest China, indicating that the volatile profiles of the cultivars corresponded to their different ecogeographical groups.

Keywords:

• Apricot
• Ecogeographical group
• HS-SPME/GC–MS
• PCA
• Volatile compounds

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Douglas D. Archbold (Professor, University of Kentucky, USA) for his critical review and assistance with the written English.

Notes

Note: The eco-geographical groups were divided according to the origin of the cultivar as follows: north China: Anhui, Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Shānxi Provinces; northeast China: Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning Provinces; northwest China: Ningxia, Xinjiang, Shănxi, and Gansu Provinces; southeast China: Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. The numbers in parentheses represent the accession code allocated to each cultivar.

^a Retention time.

^b Shorthand reference code for each compound.

^c Linear retention index (LRI) was calculated from n-alkane standards.

^d Range of concentration (RC) as mg/kg FW equivalents of pentanoic acid.

^e Range of relative concentration (RRC) as % of total volatile content.

^f Odor thresholds in water reported in Greger and Schieberle 2007.

^g Odor thresholds in water reported in Buttery et al. 1988.

^h Odor thresholds in water reported in Takeoka et al. 1990.

ⁱ Odor thresholds in water reported in Teranish et al. 1974.

^j Odor thresholds in water reported in Buttery et al. 1990b.

^k Odor thresholds in water reported in Buttery et al. 1990a.

*First report of the compound in apricots.

The different letters indicate significant differences between the eco-geographical groups (P < 0.05) as determined by multiple comparisons using one-way ANOVA.

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/lanl.