A comparison of the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of several new early- to mid-season apple cultivars for a warmer climate with traditional cultivars.

Background: New early- to mid-season apple cultivars are being developed to help address warmer growing seasons due to climate change. Free sugars, organic acids, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, antioxidant activity and phenolic composition were determined in the pulp and peel of six new and six traditional apple cultivars. In addition, the phenolic profiles of apple peels were characterized using high-resolution mass spectrometry. Forty-eight polyphenol compounds were identified, by accurate mass, in apple peel.

Results: Compared to Fuji apples, a new apple cultivar, Decobell, contained 2.6- and 1.4-fold higher levels of the sum of individual polyphenol levels in the peel and the pulp, respectively. Decobell apples showed similar sugar-to-acid ratio (0.27) to Fuji apples (0.25).

Conclusions: The results indicate that the Decobell cultivar could have the best quality characteristics in terms of sugar-to-acid ratios and health-promoting activities due to the phenolic profiles. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.