Effect of Growing Method and Cold Storage on Phenolic Compounds Composition of Eight Apple Cultivars

Apple is one of the main sources of phenolic compounds in the Western human diet. Concentration of phenolic compounds in apple fruit depends on several factors, such as variety, harvest time, location of the fruit on the tree, biotic and abiotic stresses, growing method, storage. Aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of growing methods (organic and integrated) and cold storage on phenolic compounds composition in 8 apple cultivars grown in Alto Adige region in North-East Italy. Chlorogenic acid, epicatechin, procyanidin B2, catechin, phloridzine were the main phenolic compounds identified and quantified in the apple cultivars. Results of this study showed that phenolic compound formation was affected by the growing method in a different way in the eight examined apple cultivars. In most of the cultivars, the organic growing method seemed to induce a higher phenolic compounds content than in the counterparts grown by the integrated system. Phenolic compounds composition was differently affected by cold storage in the eight apple cultivars.