Physical Parameters and Chemical Composition of Fourteen Blackcurrant Cultivars (Ribes nigrum L.)

Abstract

The research was conducted in the years 2009-2011 at the Fruit Farming Laboratory of the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin at the Experimental Station in Ostoja (northwestern Poland). The fourteen blackcurrant bushes of Scottish, Ukrainian and Polish breeding were tested. Physical features of fruits (fruit size, firmness, puncture of the skin, colour, the force required to separate the fruit from the stem) and soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH and phenolic composition were measured on fresh berries immediately after the harvest were performed on fresh fruits. The ‘Ben Alder’ cultivar was characterised by the smallest fruits; the weight of 100 fruits from this cultivar was 81.2 g, while the weight of ‘Jubilejnaja Kopana’, ‘Wernisaz’, ‘Tines’ and ‘Ben Conan’ was over 200 g. The Scottish cultivars from the Ben group, Polish cultivars and Saniuta cultivars were characterised by the greatest firmness and resistance to damage. The ‘Ben Alder’ cultivar had the highest polyphenol content (789 mg 100 g of fruits), and anthocyanins were the largest group of compounds. The fruit skins were of a dark colour, and were much darker than the flesh. After the maceration process, the juice was much darker than the fruits, from which it was obtained.