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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #284661
Title: Evaluation of fruit chemistry traits in wild black raspberry germplasm: year 2

Author
item Lee, Jungmin
item Finn, Chad
item DOSSETT, MICHAEL - Agri Food - Canada

Submitted to: Northwest Center for Small Fruit Research Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2012
Publication Date: 12/1/2012
Citation: Lee, J., Finn, C.E., Dossett, M. 2012. Evaluation of fruit chemistry traits in wild black raspberry germplasm: year 2. Northwest Center for Small Fruit Research Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary: This large black raspberry germplasm collection represents the entire range of the species. Evaluation of fruit chemistry traits in the assembled populations is helping us understand the best ways to utilize this germplasm to develop superior cultivars for the industry and consumers. This research will have important long-term consequences for breeding progress towards this goal. The baseline information for black raspberry phytochemicals generated by our research will also be useful for developers of nutraceutical products, researchers studying potential health benefits of black raspberry consumption, and for breeders creating improved cultivars of black raspberry.

Technical Abstract: Our research group has worked on developing black raspberries with improved disease resistance and phytochemical traits. Current interest in the rich color of black raspberries, and their historical use as an effective dye, derive from their anthocyanin composition and content. Here, we report our findings on 1044 analyzed samples, including new data from 78 wild populations representing 18 states and two Canadian provinces. All were collected as wild seedlings, grown in a common environment, and evaluated over two growing seasons. Total anthocyanins in normally pigmented fruit ranged from 39-996 mg·100 mL-1 (expressed as cyanidin-3-glucoside; 25 fold difference), confirming that not all black raspberries are equal in natural pigment production. We have also identified a unique mutant black raspberry that lacks rutinoside-containing anthocyanins. Until the discovery of this mutant, the anthocyanins of black raspberries were considered to comprise of (in elution order): cyanidin-3-sambubioside, cyanidin-3-xylosylrutinoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, pelargonidin-3-rutinoside, and peonidin-3-rutinoside. A reassessment of the literature, concurrent with our data, showed that some reports had misidentified cyanidin-3-xylosylrutinoside as cyanidin-3-sambubioside-5-rhamnoside. We recently published a review article to rectify many such conflicting issues with black raspberry information. Our presentation will incorporate some of these findings.