Standardized method for evaluation of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) germplasm collections as a genetic resource for fruit nutritional compounds

The importance of the nutritional parameters evaluation of strawberry germplasm is currently a central issue, such as for the phenol content and for antioxidant compounds. As a consequence, there is the need to develop standard analytical protocols for fruit sampling and analysis in terms of nutritional parameters. With this aim, a set of protocols for the analyses of strawberry nutritional parameters were tested, as the antioxidant capacity, phenol and anthocyanin content. The Clery cultivar was used mainly, as cultivated from three different strawberry germplasm collections, two in Italy and one in France, over three cultivation cycles. Furthermore, the genetic variability of the bioactive compounds in the old and the cultivated germplasm available from these three collections was explored over these three cultivation cycles. The results show that the new methodologies are more efficient in the extraction and analyses of bioactive compounds and also show reliability and reproducibility of these analytical methodologies for phenol and anthocyanin content, confirming their applicability for the evaluation of germplasm collections. Moreover, old strawberries evaluated show high nutritional compounds values (Tardiva di Romagna TAC 15.34 mmol/L TE – TPh 5312 mg gallic acid – ACy 746 mg Pel-3-glu), confirming old ecotypes as genetic resources of fruit nutritional traits.

► We tested protocols for screening analyses of strawberry nutritional parameters. ► We tested 3 strawberry germplasm collections from 3 EU research centers over 3 years. ► We explored genetic variability of bioactive compounds in old and cultivated germplasm. ► Old strawberry ecotypes are rich genetic sources of fruit nutritional traits. ► We provide a basis for breeding programs aimed to improve fruit nutritional quality.