European Journal of Horticultural Science

Eur.J.Hortic.Sci. 86 (5) 453-460 | DOI: 10.17660/eJHS.2021/86.5.1
ISSN 1611-4426 print and 1611-4434 online | © ISHS 2021 | European Journal of Horticultural Science | Original article

CIELAB analysis and quantitative correlation of total anthocyanin content in European and Asian plums

E. Rampáčková¹, M. Göttingerová¹, T. Kiss¹, I. Ondrášek¹, R. Venuta², J. Wolf¹, T. Nečas¹ and S. Ercisli³
¹ Department of Fruit Science, Faculty of Horticulture in Lednice, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic
² Fruit Nursery Rostislav Venuta, Kadov, Czech Republic
³ Department of Horticulture, Ataturk University, Agricultural Faculty, Turkey

SUMMARY
Fruits are a rich source of vitamins and antioxidants and their consumption is important for human health. Anthocyanins contribute to antioxidant characteristics in colourful fruits, especially with blue, purple and red tones of colour. The aim of this work was to study the correlation between anthocyanin content and the external colour of plums. European (Prunus domestica) and Asian (Prunus salicina) plum cultivars and inter-specific hybrids of the Japanese plum and the apricot (Prunus armeniaca) – pluots – were chosen for this investigation. Results showed that total anthocyanin content in fruits ranged between 0.2 and 217.0 mg kg^-1 fresh weight (FW) among varieties. High anthocyanin values were measured in cultivars derived from the Japanese plums ‘Black Amber’ and ‘Black Star’, however, the highest values were surprisingly measured in the pluot ‘Flavorich pluot^®’. Anthocyanin values for European plum cultivar ‘Čačanska rodna’ corresponded to the previous scientific studies and reached the level of 77.0 mg kg^-1 FW. The colour of the fruit was measured using the colour scale set by the Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIELAB) and from chromatic parameters L*, a*, b*the chroma parameter (C*_ab), hue angle (h°_ab) and colour index of red grapes (CIRG) were calculated. Correlation of the colour parameters with the anthocyanin content in plum fruits was determined and it was found that CIRG is a suitable comparison parameter with exponential positive correlation to anthocyanin content. The present work highlights that colour parameters, especially CIRG, are a good identifier of approximate value of anthocyanin content with using founded regression function. This method could be used to obtain an overview about healthy substances of fruit without its destruction or using chemical analyses.
Keywords anthocyanins, CIELAB, colorimetry, fruit colour, plums
Significance of this study
What is already known on this subject?

Using CIELAB analysis to analyse many types of fruit. A correlation between anthocyanin content and colour of fruit skin.
What are the new findings?

Variability of anthocyanin content in single cultivars of plums and difference regarding to their origin. Comparison of correlations between various chromatic parameters and total anthocyanin content in plums.
What is the expected impact on horticulture?

Possibility of using chromatic parameters as an indicator of anthocyanin content in plums.

E-mail: tomas.necas@mendelu.cz

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Received: 16 June 2020 | Accepted: 14 October 2020 | Published: 19 October 2021 | Available online: 19 October 2021