Biochemical profiling of aroma and flavonoid compounds in certain genotypes of pummelo

Abstract

Pummelo fruit volatile compounds are mainly comprised of esters, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, lactones, hydrocarbons, terpenoids and acids. A total of 50 volatile aroma compounds were identified in pummelo juice which includes 9 hydrocarbons, 10 monoterpenoids, 20 sesquiterpenoids, 9 alcohols, 2 aldehydes and ketones. Limonene was the most abundant compound, representing 0.750 to 49.331 per cent of the total aroma volatiles identified in the juice of pummelo. Among flavonoids 12 compounds identified, Naringenin was found to be high followed by catechin and other compounds. Naringenin levels play an important role in determining the bitterness of pummelo and limonene contributes for the pleasant orange flavour of the juice. Among all the accessions observed, the pink pulp accession 22(4) had high amount of naringenin (601.66 ng/ml) and the low level (100.02ng/ml) was recorded in white pulp accession 20(1) which may be useful as a parent for development of less bitter pummelo.