Elevated carbon dioxide affects fruit flavor in field-grown strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa Duch)

Authors: Wang, Shiow; Bunce, James

Submitted to: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2004
Publication Date: 6/10/2004
Citation: Wang, S.Y., Bunce, J.A. 2004. Elevated carbon dioxide affects fruit flavor in field-grown strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa Duch). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 51:4315-4320.

Interpretive Summary: The volatile compounds produced by strawberry fruit create aroma and contribute to flavor, thus strongly affecting quality that influences consumer acceptability. The sugars and acids contribute directly to the perceived sweetness and tartness of the fruit. Sugars and acids also potentiate the flavor of volatile aroma compounds that impart the flavor of fruit. However, no information was available on the effect of environmental factors, specifically the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere on sugars, acids and aroma compounds of field-grown strawberry fruit. We increased CO-2 levels in the chambers of strawberry plants and studied the effect of elevated CO-2 concentrations on fruit quality and aroma volatile composition. We found that strawberry plants grown under CO-2 enrichment conditions had increased sugar content and concentration of aroma compounds in the fruit. This research increased our knowledge on the impact of environmental factors on the quality of fruit. This information will be useful to strawberry growers interested in selecting the best conditions for maximizing sugar and aroma content in strawberry fruit.

Technical Abstract: The effect of elevated carbon dioxide on fruit quality and aroma volatile composition in field-grown strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) was studied. Elevating the ambient CO-2 concentration (ambient +300, and ambient +600µmol mol-1 CO-2) resulted a high fruit dry matter, fructose, glucose, and total sugar content and a low citric and malic acid content. High CO-2 growing conditions significantly enhanced the strawberry fruit content of ethyl hexanoate, ethyl butanoate, methyl hexanoate, methyl butanonate, hexyl acetate, hexyl hexanoate, furaneol, linalool and methyl octanoate. The highest CO-2 enrichment (600 'mol mol-1) condition yields fruit with the highest levels of these compounds. Total amounts of aroma compounds in fruit were also higher from berries grown in CO-2 enrichment conditions than those grown in ambient condition.