Сельскохозяйственная биология, 2010, № 5, с. 31-35.

УДК 634.7:631.81

FORMATION OF MICROELEMENT’S COMPOSITION IN BERRY PLANTS IN THE CONDITIONS OF HIGHER CONTENT OF HEAVY METALS IN THE SOIL

E.V. Leonicheva, S.M. Motyleva, M.N. Kuznetsov, T.A. Roeva, L.I. Leont’eva

The authors studied the Pb, Ni, Zn, Fe and Cu contents in leaves and berries of black currants, raspberries and gooseberries growing on soil with heavy metals (HM) content increased to 2-6-fold their values for regional background. The influence of ecological factors (HM content and agrobackground) on content and accumulation of microelements in leaves was revealed. For the berries this parameter determined more by genetic features of crops. The greatest summarized accumulation of HM was presented in berries of raspberries.

Key words: black currant, raspberry, gooseberry, berry agrocenosis, microelements.

Juice production is one of the most dynamically developing food industries in the world requiring large amounts of raw materials. Juice is a natural product obtained by pressing of minced raw materials with a consequent clarification of juice or without it. The branded (so-called “vintage”) juices made from special fruit varieties locally adapted in the area of production. These juices are considered of the highest quality owing to their high nutritional value, excellent taste and aroma.
Most of fruit varieties cultivated in raw orchards of Europe and the USA. are aimed at juice production. In recent years, the raise in production of canned fruit in Russia was mainly connected with increased production of juice (1, 2).
Observing the apple varieties aimed at juice production, the attention is focused on juice yield, taste and conformity to standards. The yield of juice is one of main technological parameters largely determining commercial efficiency of juice production. Juice content in apples exceeds 90%, but only 60-65% juice can be extracted by pressing of minced fruit raw (3, 4). According to some authors, the amount of separated juice depends on different qualities of the cytoplasm, primarily – on hydrophilic properties of colloid system, as well as cytological and anatomical features of fruit tissues, which affects varietal characteristics of juice production (5, 6). Despite the numerous technological approaches of raw processing aimed at maximum juice production, the use of varieties with high juice productivity still remains the main and most cost-effective method.
The purpose of this research was the selection and creation of apple varieties for juice production. In this regard, the following problems were set: to assess the varieties’ suitability for juice production and to identify the relationship between contents of biochemical elements in fruits, their content in juice and juice tasting evaluation.
Technique. The work was performed in the All-Russia Research and Development Institute of Fruit Crop Selection (VNIISPK, Orel province). The objects of study were 105 varieties and 3286 scab-immune and highly resistant to scab apple seedlings from 28 hybrid families derived by step crosses on suitability for juice production. After the assessment of fruit taste, 289 samples were selected for further study of juice prepared from their fruits (a control – the variety Antonovka Obyknovennaya). Breeding researches and studies of technological properties were carried out according to established programs, breeding manuals and methods of variety examination (7-10), "Integrated Program for Breeding Pome Crops in Russia in 2001-2020." (11), "Guidelines on Chemical and Technological Examination of Vegetable, Fruit and Berry Crops for Canning Industry"(1993) and GOST R 52184-2003 (12).
The data were processed by variation statistics methods using the programs Microsoft Excel and Matlab.
Results. Peel strength and pulp density of fruits are important for apple varieties aimed at juice production. Peel strength affects damaging fruits at their collecting (especially mechanized), transportation and storage. This property is determined by both genotype and growing conditions, while no clear connection between peel strength and a term of fruit ripening fruit was established.
Peel strength and pulp density characterize mechanical properties of fruits, and they are in a direct close relationship (r = 0,7; P <0,001). In general, most of the studied varieties and hybrids demonstrated peel strength and pulp density comparable to those of Antonovka Obyknovennaya or even surpassing it. The more dense peel was found in the variety Zaryanka.
Juice yield among the studied varieties averaged to 60,4% while varying from 44,1% (Pepin orlovskii) to 73,9% (Rossoshanskoe Vkusnoe); the coefficient of variation equal to 10,7% indicates a medium intervarietal variability.
Experimental data on yields of fruit juice compared with control (%) showed the following distribution of studied varieties: less than in control (below 59,3%) - Pepin Orlovskii, Yablochnyi Spas, Orlovskaya Zarya, Mekanis, Vityaz’, Chistotel, Ranet Chernenko, Zhigulevskoe, Kulikovskoe, Lobo, Korichnoe Novoe, Prishvinskoe, Aprel’skoe, Slavyanin, Bogatyr’, Spartan, Fetovskoe, Pamyat’ Isaeva, Start, Pepin Shafrannyi, Orlik; comparable with control (59,3-63,9%) – Orlovskoe Zimnee, Imrus, Bezhin Lug, Rannee Aloe, Cortland, Barkhatnoe, Papirovka, Stroevskoe, Martovskoe, Pamyat’ Voinu, Osennee Polosatoe, Ven’yaminovskoe, Nizkorosloe, Daryona, Zhelannoe, Favorit, Oranzhevoe, Kandil’ Orlovskii, Korichnoe Polosatoe; higher than in control (above 63,9%) – Rossoshanskoe Vkusnoe, Bolotovskoe, Zaryanka, Orlovskoe Polosatoe, Pervyi Salut, Proton, Solnyshko, Osennee Aloe, Buninskoe, Zdorov’e, Olympiiskoe, Svezhest’, Pervinka, Vita, Synap Orlovskii, Avgusta, Yubilyar, Orlovskii Pioner , Kurnakovskoe, Mezenskoe.
The average value of juice yield in the control variety Antonivka Obyknovennaya for a number of years was 61,5%. The varieties with juice yield exceeding control (Rossoshanskoye Vkusnoe, Bolotovskoe, Mezenskoe, Kurnakovskoe, Orlovskii Pioneer and Yubilyar) demonstrated the yields corresponding to world-wide cider varieties (respectively, 73,9, 71,5, 71,1, 70,5, 70,2 and 70,0%). In general, the practical interest is focused on varieties with juice yield exceeding control or equal, with a special attention to scab-immune and highly resistant to scab varieties: Bolotovskoe, Kurnakovskoe, Yubilyar, Svezhest’, Zdorov’e, Solnyshko, Imrus, Stroevskoe etc.
Tasting assessment of 80 apple varieties over several years indicated a special attractiveness of juice from the varieties Zaryanka, Svezhest’, Sokovoe 2, Veteran, Lobo, whose taste were significantly better than control. More than a half of other tested varieties showed organoleptic properties of juice similar with control, and less than a half yielded to control (evaluation below 4,2 points).
An outstanding taste quality was found in the varieties Martovskoe, Sokovoe 2, Pepin Orlovskii, Stroevskoe, Olympiiskoe (4,6-4,5 points), Chistotel, Spartan, Ven’yaminovskoe, Buninskoe, Novinka, Bezhin Lug, Kandil’ Orlovskii, Kurnakovskoe, Start, Yablochnyi Spas (4,4 points).
Organoleptic characteristics of juice derived from two groups of varieties– corresponding to control and exceeding control - allow using them all for juice production, but the most promising were the samples with juice evaluation 4,2-4,5 points. Among them, a special attention should be paid to scab-immune and highly resistant to scab varieties allowing cultivation raw fruits at the reduced pesticide load.
Taste properties of fruit juice were found to be determined by the sugar-acid coefficient, and the most harmonious ratio sugar : acid is equal to 15-25 (4).
For the control variety Antonivka Obyknovennaya, its multi-year data on sugar-acid coefficient is 8,9, which explains its sour taste. The same taste is peculiar to juice from the varieties Vita (10,2), Panirovka (10,2), Zdorov’e (10,1), Yubilyar (10,1), Korichnoe Novoe (9,4) and Osennee Aloe (8,3). In other studied varieties, the value of this coefficient was superior to control and, consequently, the resulting juice was less sour.
Juice sweetness increases at the raise in sugar-acid coefficient. The sweetest juice was perceived in the varieties Bolotovskoe, Afrodita, Prishvinskoe and Spartan.
Apple juice, as well as fresh fruits, is a source of P-active substances, especially catechins performing antioxidant function. Preservation of catechins in the juice (usually 30-80%) depends on two factors - their high content in raw fruits and low enzyme activity of peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase (14).
Upon a multiyear data, the content of catechins in studied varieties ranged from 5,3 (Orlovskaya Zarya) to 197,8 mg/100 g (Sokovoe 2) at an average content 55,7 mg/100 g. The increased content of catechins in juice was established in the varieties Yablochnyi Spas, Sverdlovchanka, Chistotel, Svezhest’, Sokovoe 4, Zacherenkovoe, Zaryanka, Sokovoe 2 (100,0-197,8 mg/100 g). Interestingly, that most of the varieties carrying the genes Vf and Vm demonstrated the content of catechins in juice higher than that in control or corresponding its level.
The study of correlations between some chemical and technological properties of fruits and the resulting  juice allowed to establish that taste quality of juice is subject to the weak trend of positive impact from higher content of soluble solids (SS) and the lower content of titratable acids (respectively, r = +0,3  and r = -0,2). Organoleptic characteristics of apple juice are slightly affected by acid-sugar coefficient (r = +0,2). At the same time, the presence of statistically significant correlations between organoleptic characteristics of juice and the contents in it of soluble solids (r = +0,4; P <0,001), sugar (r = +0,5; P <0,01) and  titratable acids (r = - 0,3; P <0,01) was found.
The foresaid analysis of large experimental data revealed no clear direct correlation between major chemical and technological parameters of fruits (i.e. raw material) and quality of juice.
Along with technological assessment of existing varieties and selection among them of best suitable for peculiar types of fruit processing (eg., making juice), there’s another promising direction - selection of varieties with high chemical and technological characteristics. Varietal properties are the factor primarily affecting rates of raw consumption and yields of resulting juice. Consumption rates of sugar at juice production also depend on varietal differences in contents of dry substances (15). These facts primarily refer to scab-immune varieties and hybrid forms giving raw materials of high purity. The importance of this issue was considered at creation of the Integrated Program for Apple Selection adopted in Russia for 2001-2020, which includes the selection of forms for raw orchards (11).
According to modern concepts, raw orchards should be composed of cultivars and forms producing cheap fruit raw satisfying both specific requirements of canning industry and social needs (especially, purity and safety). Therefore, the perfect variety purposed for raw plantations must be of an intensive type, highly resistant or immune to scab, giving fruits with high technology properties the most suitable for mechanized processing in all operations including harvesting. The last requirement is largely determined by varietal capabilities for giving the dimensionally uniform simultaneously ripening fruits having strong peel and dense pulp, which can be easily separated from tree by shaking its branches. In this regard, mechanical strength of tree branches is important as well (16). Of course, it is very difficult to combine all these properties in one cultivar. Until present time, raw orchards were formed upon the results of technological assessment of different varieties and hybrid forms best suitable by other requirements.
In Russia, the target-oriented selection of apple varieties for juice production and cultivation in raw orchards started in 1991 in the All-Russia Research and Development Institute of Fruit Crop Selection. From 1991 to 2009, hybridization works were performed upon 69,0 thousand flowers by 56 combinations of crosses; 10,6 thousand one-year-old seedlings were grown, and 2,307 hybrid seedlings were grafted or planted in orchards after rejection of unsatisfactory variants.
During the study of 300 scab-immune or highly resistant to scab apple hybrids on their suitability for juice production, the authors allocated a few seedlings with chemical and technological characteristics suitable for cultivation these forms as a raw material for juice. The juice derived from their fruits was fully consistent with organoleptic, physical and chemical requirements of the standard. A brief description of the selected samples is shown in Table 1.

In two scab-immune hybrid families - №1614 (814 - open pollination) and № 1550 (Wealthy x OR 38T17) – the first family revealed higher number of promising seedlings suitable for juice production and quality of juice (tasting evaluations 4,5; 4,4; 4,3 points). Possibly, this fact is connected with lower acidity of fruit juice from the hybrid family № 1614, and, therefore, the greater value of sugar-acid coefficient and better taste of juice. Four of these hybrid seedlings were of the greatest interest; they were propagated by re-grafting on adult trees (17) (a brief characteristic of the juice from these hybrids is shown in Table 2).

During the study of scab-immune and highly resistant to scab apple hybrids, two seedlings 16-36-190 and 16-36 -195 (Antonovka Krasnobochka х SR0523) with high quality juice were distinguished and given the cultivar names, respectively, Zaryanka and Sokovinka (National Register of Breeding Achievements Permitted for Use).
Zaryanka (Antonovka Krasnobochka x SR0523) - a new scab-resistant apple variety (gene V_m) included into the National Register of Breeding Achievements of Central Region (1999). Authors of the variety - Sedov E.N., Serova Z.M., Zhdanov V.V. and Krasova N.G. Fruits - autumn ripening, medium sized (130 g), flattened-round and weakly ribbed. Juice yield - at least 64%; evaluation of the juice: organoleptic properties - 4,5; taste - 4,2 and total score – 4,3 points (the control variety Antonovka Obyknovennaya – respectively, 4,3; 4,0 and 4,2 points).
Sokovinka (Antonovka Krasnobochka x SR0523) is another new scab-resistant variety (gene V_m) suitable for production of high quality juice. In 2009, Sokovinka was included into the State Program of Varieties Investigation. Authors of the variety - Sedov E.N., Serova Z.M., Zhdanov V.V., Levgerova N.S. and Dolmatov E.A. Fruits - autumn ripening, large (200 g) and medium dimensionally uniform. Sokovinka significantly exceeds control (Antonovka Obyknovennaya) by juice yield (70-73% vs. 65%) and taste (4.3 points vs. 4.0).
Along with these two varieties, the sample 23-12-88 (814 - open pollination) carrying the gene V_f was isolated for breeding purposes as a source of high technological properties.
Most of the scab-immune hybrids selected in the VNIISPK as promising for use in raw orchards were derived from crosses 21-45-63 [13-76-55 (Anis Purpurnyi x Nesravnennoe) x 13-62-73 (Antonovka Obyknovennaya x Renet Froma Zolotoi)] x 16-37-172 (Antonovka Krasnobochka x PR12T67) and 16-40-111 (R-12740-7A - free pollination) x 7-1-112 (seedling of Golden Grimes).
Results of the analysis of a hybrid pool from step crosses suggest the prospects for breeding of raw apple varieties based upon technological assessment, as well as selection of forms with best canning qualities, their subsequent cultivation in industrial plantations and obtaining of raw material corresponding to specific requirements of canning industry (17).
So, for the first time in Russia it has been performed the technological assessment of scab-immune and highly resistant to scab apple varieties (21 variety) and hybrids (289 seedlings) by their suitability for juice production and cultivation in raw orchards, which allowed to select the forms with high indices of juice yields, taste and nutritive value. The varieties with juice yields corresponding to best world-wide cider cultivars (70% and above) aimed at growing in raw plantations have been obtained in the All-Russia Research and Development Institute of Fruit Crop Selection: Bolotovskoe, Kurnakovskoe, Yubilyar, Pamyati Khitrovo, Orlovskoe Poles’ye (all carriers of the gene V_f), Zaryanka and Sokovinka (gene V_m). The authors have assessed manifestation of main technological and biochemical characteristics affecting fruits suitability for juice production in hybrids derived by step crosses. The breeding value of different initial forms has been established, as well as promising ways of breeding apple aimed at juice production.

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