Phenolic contents in fruit juices of plums with different skin colors

Abstract

Polyphenols in fruits are of increasing interest for consumers and for plant scientists because of their health beneficial potential and their role in plant physiology and disease resistance. Anthocyanins contribute significantly to the attractive pigmentation of red and blue plums. Mirabelles and several reineclaudes do usually not accumulate anthocyanins in the skin. Is this linked to a general low phenolic level? Both the health aspect and the pigmentation are interesting traits for the breeder. For this purpose, rapid analytical methods are necessary. One time consuming step is the extraction of polyphenols. However, fruit juices are easily produced and are anyhow used for estimation of quality traits such as sugars and acidity. Here we show that HPLC analysis of plum juices represent the phenolic profiles of the whole fruits. We analysed the phenolic patterns of juices from 43 plum varieties with yellow, blue and dark blue fruit skins. In most cases, a weak red pigmentation co-occurs with a low total phenol level. However, there are exceptions that may help the breeder to combine yellow fruit skin with a high level of health beneficial phenolic compounds by using the appropriate donor genotypes. The method described here offers a valuable tool for selection.