Journal
JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
Volume 100, Issue 15, Pages 5539-5545Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.10606
Keywords
morpho-pomological properties; physico-chemical properties; bioactive compounds; antioxidant capacity; pomegranate juice
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BACKGROUND Persistent water shortage, typical of Mediterranean agricultural systems, has driven production methods towards the use of regulated deficit irrigation (DI) strategies, which may allow important water savings. To evaluate the extent to which pomegranate (cv. 'Wonderful') attributes may differ depending on the irrigation application rates, we investigated the effect of four different irrigation regimes (100, 75, 50, and 25% of maximum crop evapotranspiration - ETC) on their morpho-pomological, physico-chemical properties, and bioactive compounds. RESULTS The weight and the size of whole fruits, and the number of arils and their weight per fruit, decreased significantly with the restriction of ET(C)water volumes applied to the crop. Minor differences were observed in soluble solids, pH, color of fruit skins, arils, and juices, although total acidity, maturity index, vitamin C, glucose, and fructose were not affected. However, total phenol content and antioxidant activity in juices were higher in the samples subjected to the DI treatments than in those submitted to full irrigation, showing the highest value at 50% ETC. A similar trend was found for anthocyanins delphinidin-3,5-diglucoside and delphinidin-3-glucoside, reaching the highest concentration at 50% ETC. Among non-anthocyanin compounds, punicalagins and pedunculagin were more concentrated in the 75% ETc samples. CONCLUSION The results of the present study indicate that the DI strategy throughout all the growing season is likely to have important implication for the pomegranate's physical, chemical, and phytochemical properties. Knowledge of them is useful in view of their processing and nutritional properties. (c) 2020 Society of Chemical Industry
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