Edgardo Giordani

Polyphenol levels and free radical scavenging activities of four apple cultivars from integrated and organic farming in different italian areas.

This paper investigates the influence of cultivar (Annurca, Golden Delicious, Red Chief, and Stayman Neepling), rural practice (integrated and organic), and growing region (different Italian regions) on polyphenol composition and antiradical activity of the pulp and skin of apples, as presented to the consumer at the market. Antiradical activity of fruit was strongly related with the total polyphenolic content, determined both by the spectrophotometric Folin-Ciocalteu method ( R (2) = 0.90; P < 0.01) and by HPLC ( R (2) = 0.85; P < 0.01). Considering the edible portion of the fruit, polyphenolics contribute toward explaining approximately 90% of the overall antiradical activity, thus highlighting their important role in human health protection. Therefore, the data indirectly indicated that ascorbic acid and other antiradical molecules differing from polyphenols play a much less important role in explaining the health-protecting properties of apples. Cultivar effect was by far the most important, and Annurca and Golden Delicious were respectively the best and the worst apples from the point of view of the health-protecting attributes.

Liquid chromatographic/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric study of polyphenolic composition of four cultivars of Fragaria vesca L. berries and their comparative evaluation†

High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ion spray mass spectrometry in the tandem mode with both negative and positive ionization was used for investigating a variety of polyphenolic compounds in four genotypes of Fragaria vesca berries. About 60 phenolic compounds belonging to the compound classes of phenolic acids, ellagitannins, ellagic acid derivatives, flavonols, monomeric and oligomeric flavanols, dihydrochalcones and anthocyanins were reported, providing for the first time a quite complete picture of polyphenolic composition of F. vesca berries. Some of the polyphenols herein investigated, such as a tris-galloyl-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-hexose, two castalagin/vescalagin-like isomers and peonidin-malonylglucoside, were described for the first time. Principal component analysis applied on original HPLC-MS/MS data, acquired in multiple reaction monitoring mode, successfully discriminated the four investigated cultivars on the basis of their polyphenolic composition, highlighting the fundamental role of mass spectrometry for food characterization.

Qualitative evaluation of olive oils from new olive selections and effects of genotype and environment on oil quality

In the dynamically changing olive oil industry, new cultivars with greateradaptability to modern cul - tivation techniques and with high quality oils are needed. In this paper, oil quality, in terms of fatty acid compo - sition and content in phenolic compounds, was analysed for many new genotypes previously selected in a bree- ding program and cultivated in three different locations of central and southern Italy. Data on some cultivars commonly grown in each area were included for comparison. The availability of data from many genotypes cul - tivated in all three locations allowed quantitative analyses of the genetic and environmental effects on the oil qua - lity traits studied. The acidic composition varied greatly both with genotype and with environment and so did the concentration in phenols, though the effect of genotype on phenols was not significant (P=0.09). The fatty acid composition, particularly the oleic/(palmitic+linoleic) ratio, appeared predominantly under genetic control, with a broad sense heritability of 0.58 while the environmental effect explained 0.31 of the total variance. The oil con - tent in phenolic compounds, instead, had lower heritability (0.29) and was more affected by the environment, which explained 0.50 of the total variance. Few genotypes were selected as the best for each location, but none performed best in all locations. This suggests that, in olive, the highest oil quality is difficult to achieve with a sin - gle genotype in different environments, due to a strong or even predominant effect of the environment on some quality traits. More likely, combinations of genotypes and territories can produce oils with high and typical qua - lity. In this paper, we provide information on potential new genotypes with promising performances in different Italian regions. Further testing of oil quality, together with agronomic performance, is necessary prior to any release of new cultivars.

Genetic improvement of olive from clonal selection to cross-breeding programs

The origin and phylogenesis of olive (Olea europaea L.) remain unclear. The olives early domestica - tion and the use of vegetative propagation have resulted in the development of a huge number of varieties. Olive breeding has been achieved both by clonal selection and by cross-breedin g. Clonal selection has been widely adopted and has been utilized for morphological characterization and identification of germplasm, cultivars true-to-typeness and disease-free certification. The olive industry is seeking new cultivars bettersuited to modern cultivation techniques. However, cross-breeding is hindered in olive by phylogenetic, morphological, caryologic and physiological characteristics of this species. A few novel cultivars have been released in Israel and Italy in recent years. A brief summary of olive breeding programs world-wide is presented. The SeInOlTa project is eva - luating 134 genotypes pre-selected fordual-purpose use (oil and table) obtained by cross-breeding in 1971. A few papers, presented in this issue of Advances in Horticultural Science, illustrate the main results achieved by the SeInOlTa project in the period 2005-2007.

Analysis of genetic diversity among persimmon cultivars using microsatellite markers

In the Mediterranean area, the production of persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thumb) [2n = 6x = 90] has increased recently as an alternative to the major fruit crops. In Spain, production relies almost exclusively on the cultivar “Rojo Brillante” which accounts for 83% of the crop. A crop based on a monovarietal culture implies several commercial risks that can compromise the future of the crop. Although the species was introduced in Europe very recently, it is well adapted to the climate of southern Europe. However, the recent introduction from Japan, the mistakes on the identity of varieties in the collections due to a bad translation of variety names from Japanese, and the lack of genetic characterization of many varieties have caused difficulties for effective management of the available genetic resources. The present paper was aimed at exploring the genetic diversity among different persimmon cultivars, including those collected in the European survey as well as Japanese cultivars. Seventy-one persimmon cultivars coming from two European collections that included accessions from Japan, Italy, and Spain were analyzed using 19 polymorphic microsatellite markers. A total of 206 alleles were obtained, with a mean value of 10.8 alleles per locus. A neighbor joining dendrogram and a principal coordinate analysis arranged the cultivars according to their genetic relationships. Analysis of molecular variance revealed significant genetic variability between and within groups, 73.3% and 85.2% for astringent-type and country origin, respectively. The simple sequence repeat markers classified the persimmon cultivars according to their genetic relationship.

Relationship of European persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) cultivars to Asian cultivars, characterized using AFLPs

Sixty one persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) selections, including 17 Italian, 11 Spanish, 13 Japanese, six Korean, five Chinese, one Israeli, and eight of unknown origin, were evaluated for genetic differences by AFLP analysis. Relationships among cultivars were evaluated by UPGMA clustering, Neighbor Joining, and MultiDimensional Scaling. While similarities among groups were generally less than 0.60, both UPGMA and Neighbor Joining separated European and Asian cultivars. Spanish and Italian cultivars were not separated by any of the analyses, suggesting that they share a common gene pool, while Japanese, Chinese and Korean cultivars formed distinct clusters. Diversity within groups was greater than diversity between groups. Most cultivars were quite polymorphic (only 0.60–0.80 similarity between cultivars). In addition, the presence of several Japanese cultivars in the European group and a group of European cultivars nested between Chinese and Korean groups suggest that similar, but different progenitors were used in the development of the present European cultivars. ‘Kaki Tipo’ selections from different sources were clearly different by AFLP analysis, indicating that they are separate cultivars.

Use of volatile organic compounds and physicochemical parameters for monitoring the post-harvest ripening of imported tropical fruits

The trade of fresh fruits from tropical countries has steadily increased over the past decades, but limited familiarity of consumers with these products has limited their introduction in worldwide markets. The increasing competition in European and international fruit markets is generating the need for improved ripeness evaluation techniques to assess fruit quality standards. As tropical fruits produce a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), PTR-ToF-MS was used to fingerprint the volatile profile of four tropical fruits (avocado, banana, mango and mangosteen) and determine whether this instrument could be used to assess fruit ripening stages, which was measured with traditional methods. Data were subsequently subjected to partial least squares discriminant analysis. By pooling the entire dataset together, it emerges that VOCs and chemical analyses enabled the separation of the two different ripening stages of all fruits, while skin color and fruit firmness did not always enable that separation. For avocado, banana and mangosteen, it was possible to observe the process of maturation during the shelf life, via physicochemical parameters and VOC analysis, whereas for mango, the constant production of methanol and acetaldehyde detected at both stages, together with the unchanged of evolution of the physicochemical parameters (TSS, pH and color), indicated a lack of maturation. Given the rapidity and the potential to use this analysis method on a large scale, the PTR-ToF-MS has a high potential to become a commercial standard tool for monitoring food quality from entering the storage chain up to the ‘ready to eat’ labeling.

Identification by suppression subtractive hybridization of genes expressed in pear (Pyrus spp.) upon infestation with Cacopsylla pyri (Homoptera: Psyllidae).

The molecular interaction between pear tree (Pyrus spp.) and the phloem-feeding psylla Cacopsylla pyri (Linnaeus) was investigated through the construction and characterization of cDNA subtracted libraries. Genes expressed upon insect infestation were identified in the susceptible pear cultivar Bartlett and in the resistant selection NY10355. In both interactions, genes involved in the plant defense response were induced, confirming the observed similarity between the response to pathogens and to insects with piercing/sucking mouthparts. However, the two expression profiles were found to be different, with more genes involved in the response to biotic and abiotic stress being activated in the resistant plant than in the susceptible one. Further characterization of the identified genes could lead to the development of molecular markers associated with tolerance/resistance to pear psylla.

Characterization of under-utilized fruits by molecular markers. A case study of loquat

The usefulness of RAPD markers for genotyping a minor fruit species such as loquat has been tested in order to assess their ability for identifying accessions and to provide a set of markers suitable for use by different groups of scientists and curators. Twenty-nine polymorphic markers selected from a previous study of 33 accessions were tested in 46 new accessions added to the collection. Using the same PCR standard conditions, only 20 markers out of 29 selected in the previous study gave consistent amplifications in the new set of plant material. The rest required optimization of reaction conditions. This fact pointed out that RAPD markers were sensitive to the experimental conditions, hence a standard technique did not guarantee reproducibility. To overcome this problem markers for plant fingerprinting should be selected after comparison across accession sets. Only those markers reproducible with different sampling and checked in several sets of accessions are suitable for germplasm fingerprinting. In the present study we propose 31 RAPDs for fingerprinting loquat that accomplished these characteristics.The markers obtained were sufficient for determining origin and relationships of cultivars, for identifying synonyms and derived varieties from bud-sports. All bud sports were identical for all RAPDs selected.

Anatomical differences on development of fertile and sterile pollen grains of Prunus salicina Lindl.

Anatomical changes occurring during the microsporogenic development of P. salicina Lindl. were studied in male fertile and male sterile genotypes. Male fertile pollen grains showed three well determined pore regions, without ektexine. Intine was thick and surrounded the vegetative cell. Vegetative cells enclosed the generative cells; their cytoplasm was rich in plastids, abundant RER and active mitochondria. Development of sterile pollen was different from the meiosis step. Microspores did not show germination pores and ektexine was continuous around the whole grain. Pollen grains showed an atypical shape. The tapetum persisted after the tetrad stage and showed hypertrophy and vacuole development, resulting in abnormal microspore development. Only a few pollen grains and rudiments of collapsed microspores close to the anther wall were formed at anthesis.