Indonesia is one of the world's leading mango producers and grows many cultivars. However, only a few cultivars have been commercialized, perhaps because of limited information on consumer preferences that meet the market demands. Here, non-targeted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based metabolome analysis was used to characterize five Indonesian mango cultivars considering their taste characteristics. A total of 95 components (47 annotated and 48 unknown metabolites) were identified. Cultivars with a higher general impression score (Arumanis 143 and Gedong) in principal component analysis (PCA) accumulated more sugars and sweetening components, such as glycine and lyxose. Meanwhile, cultivars with a lower general impression score in PCA (Lalijiwo and Cengkir Indramayu) accumulated more aspartic acid, isocitric acid, and citric acid, which increase sourness; methionine, which is a precursor of sulfur-containing volatile aroma components; and phenylalanine, which contributes to bitterness. Furthermore, orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis revealed that nicotinic acid, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, glycine, and ribose characterized higher or lower general impression cultivars. In addition, metabolic profiling of eight mango cultivars, including five Indonesian and three overseas cultivars, suggested that taste was more influential than differences in cultivars, production areas, and cultivation conditions by its hydrophilic primary metabolomics. These findings will serve as fundamental data for future mango industry development considering the association between the unique taste of each cultivar and its metabolites as well as the consumer preferences for Indonesian mango.
Keywords: Consumer preference; Indonesia; Mango; Metabolomics; Non-targeted gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.
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