| Sumario: | In Spain, the loquat production is mainly based on the ‘Algerí’ variety and some of its mutations, which account for 95 % of the total production. The problems derived from the centralization of the crop have led to the need to develop a program with the objective of expanding the loquat varietal range. Also, the demand for new loquat varieties is increasing in recent years due to its content in bioactive compounds and other compounds involved in the nutritional and biohealthy quality of the fruit (sugars, organic acids, vitamin C, phenolic compounds and carotenoids). In the present work, a comparative study of ten different loquat varieties belong to the Breeding Program developed by the Valencian Institute of Agricultural Research (IVIA) in collaboration with the Designation of Origin Nísperos Callosa d'En Sarrià,has been carried out, . For each variety, fruit at two states of commercial maturity were collected (E1 and E2). In all cases the concentrations of the bioactive compounds were in agreement with ranges described in the literature, although the variations observed for the two stages of maturity depended on each variety. The results showed that the varieties 'Algar158', 'Algar15' and 'Algar72' displayed the highest levels of ascorbic acid in the stage of maturity E1, while the varieties with the lowest concentration of vitamin C were 'Algar5', 'Siscar' and 'Ruchey'. Chlorogenic acid was the main phenolic compound in all the varieties studied. In all of them, except in 'Algar158', a significant increase of this acid occurred in the second harvested stage, which was especially significant in 'Juliana'. The variety 'Siscar' showed the lowest levels of the main carotenes, β-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin, as well as lutein and violaxanthin, which is corroborated by the low internal color index.
|
|---|