Fruit quality parameters and volatile compounds from 'Palmer' mangoes with internal breakdown

Abstract

The internal breakdown (IB) is a premature and uneven mango pulp ripening physiological disorder that is noticed only when the fruit is sliced for consumption. Thus, there is a demand for analytical methods to detect IB in mangoes to avoid consumer dissatisfaction and reduce postharvest waste. In this work, physicochemical and volatile compounds were determined to evaluate the ability to predict pulp IB. Principal components analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) of the data show that color, firmness, and volatiles compounds are important to give some information about the physiological changes caused by IB. The volatile compounds methacrylic acid, ethyl ester, isopentyl ethanoate, limonene oxide, (E)-2-pentenal, tetradecane, and γ-elemene were identified as chemical markers of IB. Therefore, mango physical and chemical characteristics combined with PCA and PLS-DA were successfully employed for the identification of IB in mangoes, showing significant differences between healthy and IB fruits.

Keywords: Chemometrics; Mango physiological disorder; Postharvest quality; Volatiles.